An Unexpected Variable
by JaMaL HaDeS
Summary: Stories. They can only go in so many ways. They only have a certain amount of pieces and variables to work with. What if a completely new piece shows up? Self-Insert fic.
1. Chapter I

Freezing cold greeted me as I woke up.

Why was it this cold?! It's supposed to be summer!

At this realization, I woke up fully, sitting up and gazing around. After carefully inspecting my surroundings, I managed to make anther coherent thought:

 _Where the fuck am I?!_

I wasn't at home. I wasn't even in a bed!

I was in a cemetery. More specifically, a snowy cemetery. With _snow_.

I caught on to this little fact quickly. This was the first time I ever saw snow in my life. And because of that, being in the presence of actual snow both excited and bugged me. It certainly raised a massive amount of questions. Why am I in a place with snow? Why is said place a cemetery?

...Why did all the dates on the tombstones not add up?

None of the years were in the 2000s.

Was this a dream? No, it couldn't be. If this was a dream, why was I aware of my surroundings? That's not how dreams work. But if this isn't a dream, how did I get myself...here? Is this somewhere in the Northern Hemisphere?

I was starting to get scared. How did I get here? What am I supposed to do? Why can't I remember what I was doing before?!

This train of thought would've continued endlessly if it weren't for...

"Sakido...?"

I froze. Not just because there was someone here as well. But because of what he said.

I _knew_ that name.

I slowly got to my feet, noticing that I was in my everyday clothing, which thankfully included a thick jacket. I tried following the voice as it spoke again:

"Sakido! Oh no! Wake up!"

The reality of the situation was staring to kick in for me. Trying my best not to think about it, I quietly made my way towards the voice.

"Please, wake up! Please!"

The voice started cracking.

"Please, Sakido! Wake up, wake up!"

I psyched myself up for what I was about to see when I finally reached the voice. And once I did, I froze again.

I was still unprepared for what I saw.

Two furry beings were sitting there, in the snow, in front of an open grave. One was large, at least 2 meters tall, and was wearing a strange robe. She had white fur with black stripes, and black hair on her head. She had long ears, which had a row of golden earrings each, and had two large black feathered wings.

And there was a long, golden arrow sticking out from her back, which was burnt and necrosed beyond repair.

I then regarded the shorter figure, which was now a sobbing wreck. He had purple fur with white markings, and large golden horns sticking out from his white hair. He had noticeably shorter ears; his left ear had two earrings while his right had a bite mark on its underside. He wore a black trench coat with bright red pants and no shoes. He also wore a necklace, in the shape of a star, on his neck.

Even though I never had seen these two before in my life, I knew they were Demons. I knew they were raised by an Angel. I knew their names, their personalities, and their relationship with each other.

I knew the older one's fate.

I could practically feel Buwaro's pain. To lose an older sibling must be devastating. I couldn't help but imagine myself in his situation.

There were tears everywhere. And they weren't just his tears.

I was crying for the first time in God knows how long. Not tearing up. Crying.

Is this what heartbreak felt like?

I saw something else shift in the snow.

Even though I had never seen one before, I recognized the figure as a Jakkai. I recognized this particular Jakkai, from her amber eyes to her long tail. I knew her name. I knew her secrets, her future, and her potential.

I knew where she had come.

I watched as she got up and regarded the area in realization, watched as she turned around and gasped at the scene before her.

"RHEA! Sa-Sakido's...she won't wake up...I-I keep t-trying but she won't...I-is... I think she..."

He sounded absolutely devastated. He took a moment to try composing himself, attempting to blink back his already flowing tears before continuing.

"She'll come b-back right? She'll wake up later, r-right?"

"Buwaro..." Rhea started choking up as well "She... your sister... S-Sakido can't ever wake up."

"B-But she has to! Y-you did!" He sounded desperate, like he just hoped the damage would undo itself "Why...why not?"

"I'm sorry... but she told me herself. Demons don't come back. Death is perma-"

Buwaro finally lost it and broke down completely, hugging Sakido tightly, as if she'd disappear if he let go. Rhea dashed forward in worry. She pulled Buwaro off of Sakido, and hugged him, letting him sob into her shoulder.

"There... just... go ahead and cry it all out. It's okay, I'm here with you..."

I just sat there, and watched the whole thing.

I watched as Rhea jumped down and expanded her grave.

I watched as she handed Buwaro Sakido's sun pendant.

I watched as they laid Sakido in the grave.

I watched as Rhea pulled out a coin and placed it behind Sakido's ear.

And I watched as they filled in the grave, and left.

Neither of them noticed me as I got up from my spot and approached her grave.

I stared at the bare mound of dirt, the only thing in the area aside from the tombstones that was free of snow. At the head of the grave, sat a large cross bearing Rhea's name, scratched out and replaced with Sakido's.

Standing here, I wanted so badly to give her some kind of tribute, at least let her know I was there. But when I checked my pockets, they were all empty. They had nothing of value I could've given, not even something I could've used to scratch an epitaph into the tombstone.

So all I did was stand before the grave, silent, and mourn for someone I never met.

Then I turned and followed the footprints into the forest.

* * *

 **A/N: That thus concludes the first chapter of this fanfic. Now, I know this is kind of short, but this really only covers two comic pages, and I plan to make longer chapters in the future. See you next time.**


	2. Chapter II

**A/N: Okay, I underestimated the amount of crap I had to do before making this chapter. But rest assured, I'm not the kind of guy to just leave something like this hanging. Now with that said, let's keep going!**

* * *

 _My POV_

I trudged through the forest, the two sets of footprints my only guide to my destination. There was snow in my shoes. My skin was starting to lose its color. And my breath was billowing out large clouds of vapour into the air.

Yeah, the jacket really wasn't doing it for me.

Did I mention I was having a panic attack? Because that's the reason why I was breathing so hard.

Questions were racing across my mind faster than I could process them. How do I get back? What do I do?! _Can I even get back?! HOW WILL I LI-?!_

Damn it, stop!

Stop. Stop, breathe deeply, and try to think clearly.

But how? I'm stuck in an alternate universe with no way of getting back, and no knowledge of how I even got here in the first place!

And there's no point crying about it if I can't fix it myself!

But it's easier said than done to calm down, isn't it?! I may as well just go insane!

Come to think of it, why am I arguing with myself?

...

Yeah, I should stop. Stop and evaluate my situation.

I'm currently in an alternate universe, where Angels, Demons, the afterlife, and magic are a thing. I know about certain events that'll take place throughout the year. Overall, it doesn't look pretty.

I have absolutely no idea what I was doing before getting... _sent_ here, if I somehow bent the fabric of reality to accomplish this (which I doubt, I mean, what could I have possibly done?), or if it was coincidental. However, what I don't think is coincidence is that I arrived right as Rhea, Buwaro and Sakido ascended from Hell. The ritual might have something to do with it, even though the fact that it was this specific one that got me here is beyond me.

And lastly, since I can't figure out a way to get back, I have to figure out what to do here in the meantime.

The way I see it, either I join the trio on their journey, or I just stay in one of the cities and make a life for myself there.

Scratch that, there's no way I'd be making a life for myself, even if I _wasn't_ trapped in a place where the currency and jobs are different than I know.

So I'll just have to go with _them._ And risk getting killed.

It can't be that bad.

I'd have to survive Lazuli. Survive Denevol.

...Survive Moonshade.

...And I'm sure I'm not insane?

Well, "I'm freezing" is what I can _confirm_ at least. Stupid useless jacket.

"SNOWY!"

I stopped and jerked my head up. Holy crap, I forgot I was even following those guys in the first place!

"...huh?"

"Snowy. We can name it...Snowy"

Even from here, I could see Buwaro let himself smile. Smile as he pet the tiny bunny in his hands. How adorable.

I knew who that bunny was. I knew her past, how she suffered, and her future, how she got happiness.

I knew what would happen by the Flower Festival. She'd abandon him, lash out and leave. He'd betray her to the forces they were fighting to avoid for so long.

Okay, I need to stop sounding poetic. Fact of the matter is, they were unprepared for what happened. They didn't know what to do.

I watched as the newly formed trio departed for Rhea's village.

I'm going to change this.

I'll change this. They don't deserve that, not at any point. I can help, if only because I know what to fix. Besides...

I could use some fun in my life anyways.

Now, to get my story straight.

* * *

 _Rhea's POV_

We kept going. We should be getting close to the village. Good thing too. I did NOT want to stay out here any more than I have to. So much for resurrection, I'm feeling horrible right now. Buwaro's still depressed, it's freezing and there are potentially hostile demons around.

And there's this rustling sound that's been annoying me for the past 10 minutes.

Wait a second. Demons? Rustling sound?

Oh shit.

I turned. There's someone behind us.

A figure came out of the shadows, slender, tall and-

Oh wait, it's just a Human.

Wait, _here?_

The Human in question had dark brown hair and hazel-brown eyes, and wore weird-looking rectangular glasses, dark jeans and a thick purple jacket, but looked even colder than I did, if his nearly milk-white skin and his shivering were any indication. He was nearly a head taller than Buwaro, but judging by his facial features, he couldn't have been any older than him.

"Hi there", he spoke, in a deep, quiet voice.

"Hello" Buwaro replied, with a little enthusiasm. The Human flinched slightly.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"That's what I'm wondering myself" he replied "I have no idea."

"What?" Seriously, what?

"I literally don't know. I can't remember what happened. I can barely remember _anything_." He looked pretty drained as he said that. "All I know is that I woke up at the cemetery, with no knowledge of how or why I got there. Then, after contemplating my situation, I decided to ask for help. And you're the only people in the area so..."

"You're stuck with us?"

"Pretty much."

Damn it. That's another problem to add to the already too-long list.

"Okay, at the very least tell me where we are." he said; I think he saw the look on my face.

"We're at Fuzen'ro forest, northwest of Farun. Is that helpful?"

He rolled his eyes. "Not really, but thanks anyway." He stuck his hand out. "And I know this whole thing is sudden and all, but maybe the rest of the explanation can wait until we find _shelter_ or something"

I hadn't even realised that it started snowing.

"Yeah, you're right. Let's go."

* * *

 _My POV_

We finally arrived at the village. Took us long enough. I was treated to the sight of Rhea dashing between trees for cover on our way to her house.

"What are you doing?" Buwaro asked in confusion after a few minutes of this.

"What does it look like?" Rhea hissed. "Get behind cover before someone sees you two!"

"But why do we have to hide?" he asked as I moved him to cover.

"Buwaro, it wouldn't look very good with I strolled around a hick town like this with a human and a demon by my side, y'know?"

"Oh, because I'm a demon..." Aaand we're back to square one with him. Poor guy.

I pat his back and sighed "You know, you could've phrased that a little better." I admonished Rhea. "Besides, what about me?"

"In your case, they're just racist like that." She deadpanned.

"Figures." I knew that already; I'm just making sure.

"Also, we're here. Welcome to my humble abode. I used to live here with Ramirez". She pointed at a nearby house. The door was heavily boarded up.

"...Okay, I suppose?"

"Don't worry, I know another way in"

"But why would they close your house?" Buwaro asked.

She lowered her voice. "People say that a Jakkai was murdered here before Ramirez and I were born. They say her ghost curses this place...but I didn't believe it so I moved in despite their warnings. All was fine and dandy... _until I was killed_."

I ignored Buwaro's rather scared expression. "Under normal circumstances I would call bullshit, but your 'death' just explains a lot; and I can't be bothered to care anymore, anyway." I muttered tiredly.

And judging from the look on her face, she hadn't meant to let that slip.

"In other news, white leaves" I steered the topic away and motioned at the aforementioned leaves. "Never seen these before."

"Yeah" Rhea said "The trees we use for the houses keep their leaves during winter."

"Oh wow...they're really pretty..." Buwaro said quietly. "I just wish Sakido could see them..."

I could almost see the speech bubble stab Rhea through the back. I could almost feel it happening to me too.

I glanced at Buwaro. Man, the guy really needs a break.

Well, now he has three people to rely on. If that doesn't help then I don't know what will.

Considering he was just fine with only _two_ of those people...

I turned and watched as Rhea dug up a hole next to the house. The secret entrance, if I remember correctly...

"This is a super secret entrance we had inside our house" she said "It's small, but I'm sure you'll fit."

Yep.

"...Alright" I muttered, and stepped inside, with Buwaro and Rhea following behind me.

The inside of the house was unsurprisingly dark as hell, and unfortunately just as cold as outside. And yet, the fact that Rhea's having a hard time seeing inside is amusing. Seeing her bump into Buwaro was even more amusing. It's not like it's pitch black, or anything.

"Ow! Just find a candle!"

"Okay, I think I found one!"

The candle is appreciated though...

And after a few unsuccessful attempts and some back-and-forth between me and Rhea regarding this:

 _Fwoosh!_

"Ugh, finally..." Rhea muttered. She took a look at her room. "Just as I thought, it's all just like I left it."

"It's a nice room Rhea, but why is it so small?" Buwaro asked, having accidentally clipped his horns on the way in.

"It was built with Jakkai in mind, Buwaro" I grunted. "And considering we're easily twice that size...at least the roof is high enough so we don't have to _crouch_."

But I still had to lower my head in order to fit. Did I mention I smacked myself on the forehead on the way in? I don't think I did.

The house itself was rather quaint; the bedroom had a bed (no shit), a bedside table (no shit!), and even a desk with a lot of items on it. I peeked through the door. The living room had pretty much the same air to it.

I could actually see myself living here if it was the appropriate size.

"I don't feel so good..." Buwaro said "I feel all weak, my tummy hurts and it's making noises..." True to his word, his stomach growled...and it was quickly followed by Rhea's. "You're sick too?" he asked worriedly.

"Calm down. You're just _hungry_ " I said. "Guess the trip out of Hell took a lot out of you or something."

"Actually, demons don't eat in Hell" Rhea clarified as she looked around for something. "Something about being protected by their god's magic." She checked under her bed "Come on, where is it?" I heard her mutter. A few moments later she pulled out what she was looking for.

"Here it is!" she said triumphantly. "The honey I won last year! Good thing it doesn't spoil- what are you doing?"

"Snowy and Thadius are asleep together!" Buwaro said happily. "They look so cute, it makes me feel warm and fuzzy."

"Yeah, me too." I admitted.

She handed us the jars in annoyance. "Anyway, we should just share the yellow one." she said. "The second one is Fire Bee honey, it's really-"

But Buwaro had already put some in his mouth.

"-spicy..." she finished.

"Huh? What's that mean?" Buwaro asked.

I took off my glasses and facepalmed. I really wasn't in the mood to deal with this.

* * *

So the night went on. Most of the remaining time was spent by teaching Buwaro about several things in the house, just like I knew would happen; from the books and the figurines, to the pillows, to the chairs and finally the mirror.

I get the feeling he's going to be at that last one for a while.

"I agree" Rhea said. Hold on, did I just say that aloud?

"Anyway, that gives me time to ask you about something..."

Here we go...

"So, you don't have any memory of how you got here?"

"Barely any memory at all. I can remember a few basic things like my likes and my name."

"Which is?"

"...Jamal"

"Okay. What about places?"

"Not those. I don't remember where it is that I lived. Certainly didn't have any snow, though."

"You DO know how far away from home _that_ puts you, right?" There was understandable disbelief in her voice.

"No. As far as anything goes right now, I'm a blank slate." I sighed. "I'm too tired to worry about it right now."

By now, Buwaro had stopped looking at himself in the mirror and sat down next to Rhea. "Yeah, you actually seem to be taking this whole thing really freaking well, all things considered" she noted.

"I already had a freak-out before joining up with you." I pointed out. Best part is, I wasn't lying. "Also..." I lowered my head. "I was at the cemetery. I saw everything."

I turned to Buwaro. "I'm sorry for your loss."

...

...

Way to kill the mood, dumbass.

"Welp, if the two of you don't mind, I'm gonna go sleep on the couch."

"Why not on the bed with us?" Buwaro asked.

"Because I wouldn't fit in it even if I had the whole thing to _myself_." I turned and left the bedroom...

...Only to smack my forehead off the doorframe again.

I'm off to a _terrific_ start here!

* * *

I left the door ajar behind me. I suppose I did fine for now. Guess I'll have to get used to playing dumb; there's a lot of things that I logically shouldn't know about, I'll be sure to make a mental list sooner or later.

I left my glasses on the table and slumped down on the couch. I reached for my phone-

Oh wait.

 _Oh son of a bitch!_

Sigh. Going to sleep might take a while. At least I have my watch, so that's something...

* * *

 **A/N: And that's a wrap. Took long enough huh? FYI, updates WILL speed up, though they'll still be sporadic, just a heads up.**

 **Guest: Thank you for your review. Also, if you really want to put that idea to use, then go ahead! Nobody's stopping you.**

 **EDIT: Forgot the line breaks, sry.**

 **See you all next time.**


	3. Chapter III

**A/N: I promised a faster update speed and I'm keeping that promise.**

* * *

 _Buwaro's POV_

I was alone with her. I could see her in front of me.

"I miss you."

"I know."

We were alone. Nowhere.

Why? Why did she leave?

"Don't cry..." she tried reassuring me. Then she noticed something. "What is that in your arms?"

"Huh? Oh..." I looked down at Snowy, in my arms, still asleep. "This is a bunny I found with Rhea."

"I see." She leaned over and pet Snowy. "Make sure you take care of her."

She stood at her full height. "Listen, this is important." Her tone was soft. "That necklace of mine..."

...

"...Always keep it close to you." She started fading away. "Please, don't forget..."

I won't forget.

Her necklace hit the ground; it fell straight through her. As she vanished, I thought I saw her wings crumple in on themselves...

* * *

 _Rhea's POV_

Okay, flying fish, blue grass, green sky, and polka-dotted rocks? Something ain't right here.

"But I just can't put my finger on it..."I muttered. Suddenly two familiar faces appeared.

"Hey Rhea!" Buwaro said in his usual demeanor. He was also dragging a rather unenthusiastic Jamal behind him.

"The two of you look different somehow." I pointed out. Namely the fact that they were both Jakkai and I towered over them for some reason.

"Different aside," Jamal said flatly "We need to get out of here before the bunny comes back and kills us."

"Why? That thing's harmless."

"She grew BIG!" Buwaro said, waving his arms.

"Just how big did she grow...?" Something told me I wouldn't really like the answer. Buwaro and Jamal both pointed above us. There she was...falling towards us?!

"Holy SHIT that's a big bunny!"

"Yeah, really!"

"We're fucking dead."

 _WHUMP!_

"Ow."

* * *

 _My POV_

I stood in a massive field of geometrically artistic structures, some small, others reaching into the sky. The sky itself was covered in dark clouds, unaffected by the light coming from a large, blood-red sun on the horizon. I turned to look at the single, white moon. It was massive, taking up most of the sky around it, and it was...

...it could only be described as _glitching._ It was flashing between a myriad of colors, then spinning, then changing size. At one point, all at once.

What a wonderful place to dream. I mean it.

The monoliths bore fleeting images, stopping and starting, changing and repeating themselves.

Those were my doing.

The moon's glitching started repeating itself in random patterns, and skipping between the patterns as well. Under my control.

It was then that I noticed water. It was an ocean, with pathways between the monoliths rising out of it. That's what I was standing on.

I imagined waterspouts coming out in random places, and showering me with water. The water level started rising, and it was...changing consistency?

I tried forcing it back down, but nothing happened. I tried to freeze the moon's glitching but it didn't stop. It just _sped up_.

Suddenly, the moon shattered. A massive meteor shower adorned the sky. The meteors were all coming towards me...?

The meteors turned red and fell towards the ocean. I tried imagining them flying up, like stunt pilots, but they just started falling _faster_. They smashed the monoliths apart, but when they hit me... it was rain. It was _blood_.

I lost control? I lost control of my dream?

A mountainous wave of blood rose over the horizon. A bolt of lightning accompanied it.

* * *

 _Kieri's POV_

There was blood everywhere, and all of it was mine. My wings were unrecognizable messes of feather and bone, useless. I couldn't stand. I was cold.

I looked at my attacker, grinning sadistically over my body, and mustered all my strength to speak: "W-Why... Why are you doing this?"

The giant form of Lazuli simply grinned even more, showing rows upon rows of teeth. "Now now," she said, much like a mother scolding her child, "since when do I need a reason to have FUN?"

She drew her hand back. "Unfortunately for you," her hand made a knife gesture "I've already had my fun." Four large claws speared me through the chest-

* * *

I woke up. I was in a bed. In a really small bed. There was someone sleeping next to me-?

I jumped back in surprise at who- _what_ I saw, and fell off the bed. The noise woke him up. "Snowy...?" I heard him mutter sleepily.

I found myself staring at another demon. He stared back in surprise with large, blood-red eyes.

I needed to run.

I quickly got up and ran through the door, slamming it behind me, finding myself in what I supposed was the living room of the house. I dashed for the front door, only to find it locked. I tried the windows. No luck either. I couldn't even escape now!

I could hear voices in the other room. The demon and... someone else, clearly female. But I couldn't hear them properly through the wall, and I had no intention of going over there to listen.

I needed a weapon. I looked around, for something, anything, I could defend myself with.

It was then that I noticed the body lying on the couch, which I would have mistaken for a dead body if it wasn't for the telltale signs of breathing. It was a Human. I remembered seeing another figure sleeping next to the demon, a Jakkai. That was who the female voice belonged to.

Were there Medians siding with Hell, now?

I finally found something: a small knife, the kind Medians use for cutting meat. I clutched it to my chest as the voices started yelling at each other. I still couldn't tell what they were saying.

Questions raced through my head. Where is this place? How and why did I end up here? Who are those Medians?

And how will I survive? Even armed, there's little I can do with the cuffs on, not to mention my curse, which could come back at any moment-

"Uh, Snowy?"

Huh?!

 _Poing!_

I once again found myself staring into those red eyes, only now I was a bunny again, completely defenseless. So I did the only thing I could do.

I grabbed the knife and swung it wildly in front of me.

To my surprise, it did the trick. The demon cried out and jumped back, only to trip and fall on top of the Human, and the two of them promptly fell off the couch. The Human got up first, shoving the demon off him.

"What the hell...was that for?" he panted from getting woken up. Maybe if I try going ov-

He saw me. He was more confused than anything else, however.

"...Did you just give your pet bunny a _knife?_ " he asked, turning around. "Buwaro-"

But the demon had already left.

"Wha- Where did he-?" he stuttered, only to be interrupted by more voices coming from the other room.

If it wasn't for the imminent danger I was in, I would've called his expression at that moment funny.

The demon came back, dragging a sleepy and very irritated Jakkai into the room. The Human didn't take it that well.

"Oh, okay. Your bunny tries attacking you with a knife and your solution is to get the person that's in the other room and still asleep." he deadpanned. "Instead of, you know, the one that was _next_ to you and _awake the whole time_."

He was?

"There she is!" The demon completely ignored him, instead choosing to point me out to the Jakkai.

"Wow, looks like a real cold-blooded killer." If the Human was sarcastic then she was pretty much oozing with it.

I backed away; unlike the other two, I heard her act openly hostile. I needed to be careful.

"I bet you were just too rough with her." She said, a little calmer than before. She still thought I was a bunny. "You have to be gentle. C'mere..."

Too close for comfort. I repeated my earlier tactic.

Big mistake.

"That's it! I've tried being nice!" She roughly picked me up by the collar, her rage from earlier showing. "It's clear you're not a normal bunny! And unless you want me to have rabbit stew for dinner, you're going to tell me who or what the fuck you are!"

In my fear, I turned back into an angel.

I fully expected her dumbfounded reaction. I didn't, however, expect her next reaction.

"Okay, this is too much. Hand that knife over- I'm going to kill myself."

"Like Hell you will." The Human muttered disinterestedly.

"Rhea, you're scaring her." The demon came out of nowhere and extended a hand. "Hi! My name's Buwaro!"

I flinched at the sight of the claws on that hand, bringing my arms up defensively.

To my surprise, I heard laughter coming from Rhea.

"Is there something wrong with my hand?" Buwaro said with genuine confusion.

"Ah... sorry, I shouldn't laugh," Rhea apologized. "It's just that, someone finding Buwaro scary is just funny to me. Don't worry, he's completely harmless. Anyway, my name's Rhea, and that guy over there is Jamal."

"Yo."

"This is my house; we brought you here after we found you unconscious as a snow bunny."

"And that statement doesn't make the situation any less weird than it already is." Jamal added. "So, now that we got our 'misunderstanding' settled, we'd like for you to tell us who you are and where you're from."

He gestured at my wounds.

"As well as, well, why you're in this condition."

What do I do? They've calmed down, but I'm still not sure about their intentions, I'm not even sure if they know what I am. For all I know Buwaro could be their leader and is waiting for the opportunity to strike. And I still can't talk because of the collar.

But I doubted they were acting. Buwaro looked a little discouraged from my earlier reaction, Jamal looked really tired, probably lack of sleep, and Rhea...?

"Y'know what, questions for later. I'm so hungry I can't even think straight." Rhea grunted. "I'll go find us something to eat; the two of you can stay here with Snowy while I'm gone."

"But I don't wanna scare her! What should I do?" Buwaro asked.

"She's just not used to you yet. Just leave her alone for a while. You can hide in my room if you want, just don't break anything or I'll break your face!"

Rhea slammed the door behind her as she left through the room.

"Is she always like this?" Jamal asked skeptically.

Buwaro lowered his head. "Yeah...more or less..."

It seems like Jamal only joined the group recently. But this opened another possibility, one that scared me: if Buwaro tried anything, would Jamal be able to keep him in check, in his current state? He mightn't know what demons are capable of; he wouldn't stand a cha-

"Snowy?" Buwaro snapped me out of my thoughts. "Look I-I'm sorry if I scared you earlier, I really didn't mean it." He rubbed the back of his head. "I'll just be in the bedroom..."

And, true to his word, he went in and closed the door.

Did he...a demon...just apologize? I...

I turned to Jamal. His expression hadn't changed. He turned to me.

At that moment, I felt unsettled. His eyes...he was looking right through me, like he was trying to find something else out of the ordinary. Despite his earlier apathetic attitude, it was clear he was a little suspicious.

But then he noticed I was staring back, and he averted his eyes in embarrassment.

"Sorry," he said. "I, uh, zoned out a bit there..."

I got up from my spot on the floor and sat down next to him on the couch, looking at him questioningly.

"You're wondering why I wasn't scared of him, huh?" he said. I _was_ curious about that; his lack of fear towards a demon he likely didn't know for long, or in general.

"Well..." he lied back against the couch. "Did you know that demons can _cry?_ "

My eyes widened slightly.

He was about to say something else when all of a sudden, there was a scream from the bedroom.

Both of us fell off the couch in surprise. Was that Buwaro? What happened?

"What the hell?" Jamal said in shock and a hint of...something else. But I didn't have time to think about it because he quickly ran through the door. I followed him; even if Buwaro was a demon, he's been nothing but nice so far, far nicer than most people I knew, and he might need help right now.

We went in the room to find Buwaro sitting on the bed...and he now had blood-soaked _bat-like wings_ on his back.

"What the hell happened?" Jamal asked worriedly. "How did you get wings? Is that normal?"

No, it wasn't. It was far from normal. But I could worry about that later, right now Buwaro needed some help. I quickly looked around for something to clean the blood off with. Buwaro simply let out strained breaths, while Jamal stayed by his side.

I found a towel, and rushed over to Buwaro, and started carefully cleaning his wings.

"Okay, so," Jamal asked again, calmly this time. "How did you get these wings?"

"I..." Buwaro tried to say between breaths. "I got it... from my sister's...pendant."

Pendant?

I saw the necklaces Buwaro was wearing. I gasped.

They were sun and star pendants! How did he get them? For how long has he had them for? I thought demons couldn't wear those because of the wards they had!

"Snowy? Are you okay?" Once again, Buwaro snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked up at him to see that he was crying. Those were real tears, flowing from his eyes and staining his fur. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and continued cleaning his wings.

But even then my mind was still focused on the pendants. Not only could Buwaro wear them, but they were compatible with him. At least, somewhat compatible. Unlike an angel's wings, these were completely flesh-and-blood wings, which, by the looks of it, sprouted physically from his back. That must have hurt a lot.

It wasn't long before Rhea reappeared carrying a bag of food with her tail.

Looking back, her reaction was actually kind of understandable.

"WHAT THE HELL?! When did you get WINGS?!"

"Uhh..."

"And you!" She turned to me. "I was half-expecting you to be in a corner crying your eyes out, but instead I find you here chilling with Mr. I-don't-give-a-crap and Dumbass McGee! Are you doing this just to spite me?!"

"Hey, stop picking on Snowy! She's just trying to help!" Buwaro defended me.

"Yeah, lay off her, will you?" Jamal joined in as well.

This was the first time something like this happened in my life. And I had no way to express my gratitude for it...

"That still doesn't answer my earlier question." Rhea interjected.

"I got these wings from Sakido's pendant."

"That's some messed up shit." Rhea noted. "Maybe you should take it off."

That doesn't really seem like a good idea.

"Judging from HOW those wings appeared, I'm not willing to try that." Jamal said.

"And it's from Sakido." Buwaro reasoned. "I don't wanna take it off..."

"Fine, suit yourself." Rhea said.

"But they're too small for flight, so don't get any ideas." Jamal advised.

Rea huffed at that. "Anyway, I got us some food, so eat up! There's nuts, berries, bread, wow that's a lot of stuff..."

Buwaro eagerly grabbed a nut and a few berries. I took some bread. And Jamal...didn't even touch the bag. I suppose he wasn't hungry.

Then Buwaro ended up choking on his nut.

"Oh for crying out loud..." Rhea said in annoyance. "Buwaro, you're supposed to get rid of the nut's shell before you can eat it!"

"And how exactly would he have known that?" Jamal pointed out.

I took out another nut from the bag, and carefully broke open the shell, handing it to Buwaro.

"Huh? For me?" Buwaro asked as he took the nut. "Thanks! You're so nice!"

I couldn't help but feel warm inside as he said that. It's funny; even a few days ago I wouldn't have imagined that I'd meet a demon like him, and it...felt nice.

"Ooh- I saw that smile!" Buwaro said playfully. I smiled? "That's the first time you smiled since...forever! Are we friends now?"

"Heh, don't get ahead of yourself." Jamal said casually.

"It's about time you stopped being so nervous." Rhea said. "Come here, let me patch you up."

She took out a first aid kit from the bag, and started cleaning my wounds, while Jamal helped wrap them up.

"Snowy, meet Thadius!" Buwaro said proudly, while holding...a rock? "She's my pet and was my best friend before Rhea and-"

That just raises a lot of unpleasant questions.

"Why am I not surprised..."Jamal muttered.

"Buwaro, shut up for a second, I need to talk to Snowy." Rhea said. She turned to me. "I think it's about time you told us who you are. At the very least, tell us your name."

I pointed at my throat, where the collar was, hoping she'd get the message.

"Wha- I didn't ask about your jewelry!"

Nope.

"She's _mute_." Jamal clarified. "She hasn't made even a single noise let alone spoken this entire time."

Close enough...

"Oh well..." Rhea sighed. "I'll still help get you out of here to the Human village regardless, since you've been nice so far."

"Wait. Why do we have to leave?" Buwaro asked. "I mean, we just got here..."

"Plenty of reasons, actually: one, none of us belong here, and two, Humans are forbidden from even visiting the village. Stupid racist fucks didn't want me to have friends."

"But still," Jamal said. "There's really no point leaving now, not when half of us are sleep deprived."

"You're right." Rhea said. "Let's get some sleep for now. We leave next morning."

Since Buwaro would still be sleeping with Rhea on her bed, Jamal and I went into the living room to sleep on the couch. We decided to sleep together as well, because as Jamal put it if we didn't: "One of us would have to sleep on the floor, and we'd be unable to share the blanket...that Rhea forgot to give me _earlier_."

It was kind of a tight fit, but...at least it was warm, unlike before...

Feeling far better than I could've hoped, I fell asleep.

* * *

 **A/N: And thus concludes yet another chapter in my story. I think I'm getting the hang of this.**

 **Guest: Thank you once again for the review. As for magic, well, considering the average magic level of most Humans in Slightly Damned, it** _ **will**_ **get addressed within the story itself soon (not telling when as of yet, but soon.).**

 **See you all next time.**


	4. Chapter IV

**A/N: Things are starting to heat up in this chapter. Not hot enough to melt snow tho.**

 **Also, for future reference, Angelic will be written like this, but only if the point of view is on someone who can understand it.**

 **With that said, let's go.**

* * *

 _My POV_

Early next morning, as in literally right after sunrise, we got up and set off on our way to Farun. Unluckily for me, while I didn't have another unpleasant nightmare, it also took me twice as long as before to go to sleep. Seems Rhea shares my sentiment, if her rather venomous looks towards Buwaro were any indication. I leaned over to her.

"So, did you sleep well?" I asked her.

"Buwaro's wings kept getting in my face, so no." I thought so.

We also had to cut open the stitches on Buwaro's coat for his wings; never mind we seriously considered just throwing out his ruined shirt, we only ended up keeping it because being underdressed in the snow was a bad idea. God knows the rest of us are cold with _proper clothing_.

"At least it didn't take you that long to fall asleep. I could hear you snoring from the living room." I said flatly.

"Why did it take you longer than me? Did Snowy do something?" she asked.

"No, it just takes me that long to go to sleep." I deadpanned.

And without any electronics to distract myself with, it culminated into one of the most boring experiences ever, trying and failing to go to sleep for over an hour. A literal _hour_. I had a watch to keep track of time with, so I should know.

Speaking of my watch, it was currently hidden under my sleeve, out of sight. It wasn't digital, but I didn't want to take the risk of wristwatches, or even _clocks_ , not being a thing here, and drawing unnecessary attention.

"Maybe you'd be less cold if you turned into a bunny, y'know." Rhea said to Kieri. "No? Suit yourself."

"You're just mad that she gets proper winter fur." I tried to joke.

"Shut up." Okay, jokes are out. Like they've always been.

And naturally, Buwaro stepped in to help Kieri.

"Don't worry, Snowy! If you're cold, you can always stay near me! I'm naturally warm and fuzzy!"

"Okay, I think you're just creeping her out."

That blush says...actually I don't know what it says. It's too early.

"Oh, and give me the map and compass I gave you back at the house."

Wait.

"Uh, I gave those to Thadius."

I forgot about this part.

Good job, me.

"You did WHAT?!" Rhea shouted.

"Oh, geez, don't tell me you dropped them Thadius!" Buwaro scolded his pet rock.

"It's a rock!" I snapped. "It can't pick things up much less drop them! It doesn't have hands!"

I like the guy, but if I knew he'd wear down my patience this quickly, I'd have slapped him.

Maybe I should slap him.

"We haven't been walking for long." Rhea said. "I'll go back for them. Buwaro, don't move, 'cause when I get back, I'm gonna kill you." And with that she went back the way we came.

Thank God for her initiative.

Kieri looked rather worriedly in her direction.

"Oh, don't worry too much about her, Snowy!" Buwaro said cheerfully. "If she didn't kick me right in the face, she shouldn't be too mad!"

"And that's your relationship in a nutshell." I deadpanned. "How long have you two known each other exactly?"

"...A few months. Why?"

Well then. No words are needed.

"Anyway..." I said. "Let's just wait for her to get back."

I don't think it'll take her that long, there's not much that can happen.

* * *

 _Some time later..._

"Is she here yet?"

"No..."

"Is she here yet?"

"No..."

"Is she here yet?"

"No..."

"Is she here yet?"

"No."

"Is she here yet?"

"No! Shut up!"

...

"Is she here yet?"

"Okay, is that an actual question or are you just messing around?" I said in a rather annoyed tone.

"I'm just bored." he complained. "It's boring. What's taking her so long?"

"It's only been about five minutes." Wristwatch, everybody. "For all we know, she's probably on her way back already. What do you think, Snowy?"

Kieri just shrugged in response.

I sighed and sat down.

Damn it, being around Buwaro was much harder than I thought it was going to be. I just hope Lazuli isn't as bad.

Wait, what kind of idea is that?! Of course she'll be bad!

We'd have Kieri to help us, because Lazuli's dumb enough to screw up with the cuffs.

That was a close fight.

I'd be helping her.

Hopefully I don't get killed five seconds into the fight.

Actually...we're all here now, out of sight from Lazuli...maybe I should stop Buwaro from leaving and avoid Lazuli altogether.

Then Kieri would end up with the cuffs stuck on her person forever.

She could get the message across with some paper and a pencil, and then explain the rest herself.

You know what, that could work.

I turned to my collea-

They were gone.

...

...

Did I seriously not notice them leave? Much less notice Buwaro almost certainly telling me to tell Rhea that they left?

"Oh, I am become error." I groaned.

Note to self: remember to pay attention to my surroundings once in a while.

* * *

 _Kieri's POV_

We made our way through the trees towards whatever it was that Buwaro saw.

I just hope Jamal heard us. He made no indication that he did, so I was a little worried about what he'd do if he thinks we ditched hm.

"Ooh, look, Snowy! It's such a pretty view!" Buwaro said.

I turned to look at what he was pointing at.

It really was a pretty view. We stood on a cliff, which gave way to a series of rolling hills covered in trees, shadowed by a clear blue sky. Most angels would state that Heaven was the epitome of beauty, but standing here, I knew that this was far more beautiful. Buwaro seemed to share my sentiment.

"There are so many trees!" he said in awe. "And the sky is so... so... BLUE! This is nothing like my home..."

I wondered what Hell was like in comparison to what I knew. From his tone, it couldn't compare to this sight, and yet, he sounded homesick...

"I just wish Sakido could have seen this..."

Who was that? A friend? Family?

"Now, what do we have here?" a familiar voice said behind us. I gasped. No. Not now. Not _her_.

Both Buwaro and I turned to face her.

"Whoa, hello! I didn't even see you there. Who are you?" he said in his usual cheerful tone.

"My name's Lazuli, now hand over the angel." Lazuli said in Angelic.

"Um... what?"

Wait what?

"What's wrong? Don't you even understand basic Angelic?" Lazuli asked in similar confusion.

"Uh...No?" Buwaro admitted.

"How can you not-" Lazuli cut herself off. "Never mind. I said my name was Lazuli, and that I'm here for the angel."

"What angel?"

Huh?

"The one standing right next to you...?" Lazuli said skeptically, like at this point she wasn't even sure anymore.

"You mean Snowy?" Buwaro said. "Ha! Don't be silly! She's not an angel, she's a bunny!"

He still didn't know I was an angel? He should've figured it out by now.

The situation looked bad either way; either he figures it out and hands me over, or he ends up angering her and dooms us both.

I would've continued my train of thought if it wasn't for Lazuli's dumbstruck expression distracting me.

"You've got to be kidding me." Lazuli said, the irritation in her voice becoming apparent. "I mean, she might be missing the dazzling white wings, but... The blue hair! Her pale skin! Those clothes! It all practically screams, 'I'm an angel!'"

"You don't say..." Buwaro turned to me with a suspicious expression on his face. "By the way..."

Oh no...

"What's an angel?"

Wait what.

Wait WHAT?!

"You mean to tell me that you don't know anything _at all_ about angels?!" Lazuli managed to ask in shock.

"Hold on, I think I remember something..."

...

"Nope! False alarm!"

He can't be serious, can he?! How can't he be?!

A large figure suddenly came out from behind the trees, with that same scowl on his face.

And then there's _this_ guy!

"There you are, Talus! It's so nice to see you _catch up_!" Lazuli said sarcastically. "I managed to find our little runaway; unfortunately, I also found this stupid purple headache as well."

"So," Talus said to Buwaro, who was currently admiring his size. "Can you fly with those gimpy wings?"

What...?

"I don't think so..." Buwaro answered. "My friend said that they're too small and-"

"Good." Talus interrupted him.

And proceeded to punch Buwaro hard, sending him flying off the cliff edge.

No!

I lost control; I dived for him, to try to grab him, to try to save him.

Lazuli simply grabbed me by my robe and held me back, stopped me from rescuing him.

For the first time since I was kidnapped by these demons, I let emotion take me over completely.

I openly broke down crying, silently letting out everything I had kept pent up until now; from getting sent here, to the fight with Kazai, to getting separated and finally this.

"Was that really necessary?" Lazuli asked.

"You said he was a headache." Talus pointed out. "And besides..."

No...

"We don't want any witnesses."

"Then I say, do your job properly!"

The three of us turned to the source of that voice.

It was Jamal, leaning against a tree with a completely flat expression.

I don't know whether or not to be relieved that he came to my rescue, or sad that he might just get himself killed as well. And part of me was angry that he didn't get here sooner.

"Sorry I took so long, I didn't think the matter was this urgent, and I had to take care of something on the way here."

Take care of what exactly?

* * *

 _Rhea's POV_

 _Meanwhile..._

"'Sorry. Buwaro ran off with Snowy and I had to go get them. They didn't go far, so it shouldn't take too long. If you want to meet up right now, you could always follow the footprints. Or the arrow I left for your convenience.'"

...

I can't believe this. Both the fact that Jamal lost track of those two, and the fact that he took the time to write this in an _elegant cursive script_.

Fucking wonderful. I'll just go meet up with them now.

I grabbed Thadius from her spot on the ground and started following the footprints.

* * *

 _My POV_

I should've timed myself on the way here, because I might've broken a speed record on the way here.

I was also starting to think this might be a bad idea. For someone who's not even as tall as Kieri, Lazuli can be pretty intimidating. And then there's _Talus_.

I thought about this on the way here. I let Buwaro run off with her and now I have to face the consequences. Giving them an opening to escape was one of them.

I also didn't want to have Rhea yell at me for the amount of time that it'd take us to meet up with them again.

But, back to the matter at hand:

"That girl belongs to me." I said lowly.

"Well, aren't you the naughty one!" Lazuli joked. Guess she didn't take the random bystander seriously.

"Don't make me gouge out your fucking eye." I retorted, holding up a rather sharp rock I came across. Hooray for comebacks! Even if it scared Kieri a little...

It certainly did the trick against Lazuli.

"Oh, yeah?" she challenged.

Okay, maybe not.

"...I suppose I should get back to the point." I backtracked.

"Seems like it's a bit late for that." Talus said.

Well, shit.

"I'll still do it." I said, doing my best not to lose my composure. "I'm not going to let her come to harm."

"How exactly? We're the ones who have a proper fighting ability." Lazuli said.

"You're also the ones with your backs against the cliff, and I've got proper cover behind these trees."

"Well, seems like you're not a complete idiot like your friend."

"Oh yeah, speaking of which, where is he?" I asked nonchalantly.

"Dead. Talus knocked him off the cliff."

I pointed at the cliff edge, where Buwaro was climbing his way back up. "Looks like he missed a spot."

"How the fuck did you survive that?" Talus asked in surprise.

Buwaro stood. "I'm a good climber. And I'm also used to falling off cliffs." He proclaimed proudly.

"I'm not even going to ask." Why even should I when I know the answer?

"Oh hi, Jamal! When did you get here?"

"Wasn't too far behind you. Now, explain this fuck-up of a situation."

"Well-"

"No." Talus cut him off. "I'm going to kill you, _properly_ this time."

"No, wait." Lazuli interjected. "I'll try getting through to him again." She turned to him. "Look kid, THIS is an angel." She pointed at Kieri. "Not a snow bunny or whatever. As demons, that automatically makes her the enemy. We hate each other."

"She's... my enemy?" he asked, as if the concept was completely alien to him. It probably was.

"Yes!" she had pretty much lost all her patience by now. "We fought in a giant war against them, that's how much we hate angels!"

"Wait, so the Great War actually happened?" I muttered. Had to keep up my façade.

"Yes." She answered. She turned back to Buwaro. "See my broken claw? And his scar?" she pointed at the large scar over Talus' left eye. " _She_ did this to us." She gestured at Kieri. "If we hadn't put those braces on her, she'd have killed someone like you, no questions asked."

I wouldn't go that far, but she was right. Kieri would've, at the very least, attacked and probably wounded Buwaro before he got any words across.

"Well, she did attack me with a knife, when we first met..." he noted. "But that doesn't matter because we're friends now!"

Talus and I both facepalmed. Lazuli had just about had it.

"No! It does matter!"

"But Snowy's such a nice bunny!"

"SHE'S NOT A FUCKING BUNNY, SHE'S AN ANGEL! AND HER NAME ISN'T SNOWY IT'S K-"

"Lazuli, watch it!" Talus warned her.

One wonders how someone can screw something like that up. I mean really.

I could see Kieri taking note of their reluctance to say her name. But she'd be unable to figure it out just like that...

We glanced at each other.

"I just don't get it! How can he not know about, much less HATE angels?!"

"Maybe he's not a demon?" Talus suggested. "Sure, he looks like a fire demon, but last I checked, they don't have wings."

"I AM a fire demon! Here let me explain." Buwaro said. He pulled out his sun pendant from under his coat. "I don't normally have wings, but thanks to this pendant, I do. I wear it inside m coat because that's how my sister used to wear it."

"Wait, does that mean that star pendant is also...?" Talus said in surprise. "Damn! How can you even wear that shit without it hurting?"

"Gimme those!" Lazuli said. "You've got no idea how valuable those are!"

"No! Back off!"

"Now your chance!" I mouthed to Kieri. She took action...

By biting Lazuli.

Lazuli reflexively let her go, and she dashed over to Buwaro, grabbing him by the wrist and taking off with him.

I quickly jumped out from behind the trees and punched Lazuli in the face for good measure, before leaving in the direction my two companions went. It wasn't long before we heard them giving chase.

We are so fucking dead.

"Here you guys are!"

It was Rhea, straight ahead of us.

"Run!" Buwaro yelled.

"Can't wait to hear the story behind this one..."

"Then shut up and run!" I shouted. "Unless you want to die!"

"What did you do?!" Rhea shouted, quickly getting the picture.

"Long story short, turns out Snowy is an angel, and a pair of demons are trying to kill her!"

"WHAT?!"

"Just run!"

So we ran as fast as we could. But both Lazuli and Talus were keeping up; in fact they were gaining on us. We just kept running. We finally ran onto a frozen lake in the middle of the forest. Without any obstacles in front of us, we broke out in a full-on sprint. But so did our pursuers.

Rhea quickly stopped running and turned to face the demons. "I'll slow them down with my Terra Spike!"

She punched the ground in front of her.

Nothing happened.

She immediately started running away again.

"Let's end this stupid chase." Lazuli said, before she slammed her hands down as well.

Suddenly, a massive row of spikes rose up from the spot where Lazuli put her hands, dashing past us and curving around, effectively cutting off our escape route. I let myself hit the spikes at full speed. They didn't give. They were _rock-solid_.

Oh no.

Oh jeez. Oh God.

"Wait! Before you brutally murder us, satisfy my curiosity..." Rhea said. I couldn't really tell if she was genuinely curious or just stalling. "Is she really an angel?"

" _I thought we already clarified that?_ " I thought sarcastically.

"I already wasted my time trying to tell your retarded friend that Snowflake is a fucking angel-"

"I think he said 'Snowy'" Talus pointed out. Thanks for that. Both sarcastically and genuinely. Because you managed to make Lazuli lose her shit.

"FUCK IT! Her name is fucking Kieri Suizahn and she's an angel! But that doesn't matter anymore because the four of you are DEAD!"

The sound of metal landing on snow snapped her out of her rage.

Kieri was free.

Lazuli just groaned. This was _not_ her day.

* * *

 **A/N: And that's the end of the chapter. Brace yourselves for the next one, because that's when things get** _ **real**_ **.**

 **Guest: I can assure you, that this story with be here for the long haul, and I don't plan on removing it from the site anytime soon. As for future story ideas, I'll keep your idea in mind, but I'm waiting to familiarize myself with the characters first. As for magic, dark magic is demon-specific, so no; it's not going to be that. As for the dream, you're pretty much right. Just how quickly it happens and how messy it ends up being is still a mystery. But he's at least somewhat aware that he won't be able to stay on top forever.**

 **I will see you all next chapter.**


	5. Chapter V

**A/N: Well, it took a little longer than I would've liked. I originally planned to have this up on Christmas Eve, but due to the preparations, gift-buying, and a minor case of writer's block, it got delayed until today. But now it's out for all of you to read while celebrating the New Year. Happy 2017, everybody!**

* * *

 _My POV_

Well, this situation was just as bad as I thought it was going to be. Which is not actually that bad.

As not bad as having two demons out for our blood when only one out of the four of us was a capable fighter.

The difference was that there were now four of us. And the extra member could fully understand the situation beyond what the other two non-fighters knew.

Then again, even that isn't much help. And Lazuli knew it.

Which meant psyching herself up right now was completely pointless.

"You really think you can beat us now that you've got company?" she taunted. "You're still weak from our last fight; this won't be any diffe-"

And it earned her a magically summoned snowball to the face.

Kieri defiantly said something in Angelic. Lazuli, after having extracted the snow from her face, barked something else at her.

I listened to their argument. From what I could hear, Angelic sounded kind of like a mixture of Latin and Japanese... with a few other languages sprinkled in for good measure. I can recognize a few words, albeit modified words, and the tones are familiar.

"What do think they're saying?" Buwaro asked.

"Do you really think I understand this crazy moonspeak?!" Rhea answered.

Considering that they've never heard or even known about any languages other than English, I'm not surprised about their confusion.

Note to self: begin referring to English as Lingo. It's going to get annoying fast.

I can't believe I'm having these thoughts _right the fuck now_ , of all times.

"...Talus, you get to take care of the other three."

Wait, why did Lazuli switch back to Lingo to tell Talus that?

"Oh, this is gonna be fun!"

Shit.

"I understood _that_ , kinda wish I didn't..." Rhea managed to say.

Talus dramatically reached behind him and drew his battleaxe. He hefted it, wanting to intimidate us as much as possible, before drawing his arm back and swinging. The three of us quickly ducked under the swing, which sliced through the ice spiked behind us like a knife through butter.

 _Holy shit._

He didn't stop there. He swung his axe back up and brought it down vertically on top of us, cracking the ice below us. Buwaro and Rhea threw themself to the side, and immediately started running, screaming in terror. Talus gleefully gave chase, shouting "Come back! I just wanna kill you!"

He hadn't seen me dodging the other way...?

Kieri called out in surprise, too distracted to notice Lazuli charging up a magic attack...!

"Get down!"

I dashed forward and tackled Kieri, just fast enough to dodge the spikes Lazuli shot at her.

"Hah!" Lazuli taunted again, this time in Engl- Lingo, damn it. "Way to let your guard down! Even this Human over here-"

I quickly grabbed some snow and threw it at her. She dodged it, shifting her focus in the process.

"Hah! Gonna have to try harder than-"

She didn't get to finish her sentence. Mainly because of me firmly slamming my fist somewhere between her lungs and colon. Followed immediately by me grabbing her shoulders and kneeing her in the face. She stumbled backwards, clutching her nose.

I think I heard a crunch.

Some people just don't seem to be able to focus on multiple threats at once. Or they just don't have a proper reaction time.

Or maybe she just wasn't taking me seriously.

"Way to let your guard down." I echoed. I knew this whole thing was largely ineffectual in the long run of this fight, but _damn_ did it feel good.

I walked over to Kieri, and extended a hand. "Are you okay?" I asked.

She quickly took it and got up. "Y-yes" she said in En- Lingo! _Lingo!_ Wow, that _did_ get annoying fast.

"So...any ideas?" I asked.

"We should run." She said without hesitation.

 _That's_ the best you could come up with?

"It's too late for that." I said. "And besides, where would we run?"

"So, y-you're saying that we should fight?" she asked, glancing in Lazuli's direction.

"We don't have a choice." I pointed out. "Besides, if it took the both of them to subdue you, then against just one... I'm sure _we_ can handle it."

Lazuli removed her hands from her face.

"...Alright."

"Now, I never thought I'd say this but..."

Lazuli growled and charged.

"Let's double-team this bitch."

We dashed forward and dodged Lazuli's attack. She swiped again, but I quickly grabbed her wrist and kicked at her. She blocked it easily, only for Kieri to blast her from behind with holy magic.

Lazuli switched targets and rushed Kieri, only to be knocked off balance by a sudden hit to the back that I sent, allowing Kieri to get a hit in, and then blast her again. I dodged a few swipes and sent my own punches her way, but she avoided them easily. Kieri simply swept her legs out from under her.

We were actually getting the upper hand in the fight. Isn't that something. If only Kieri was in better condition, and had an actual fighter to rely on, then we'd actually win. I've never been in any kind of fight in my life, and let's be honest, I may be hitting hard, but I'm not doing much in terms of damage. I'm basically just the distraction.

Lazuli, now really pissed and a little bruised, resorted to using magic attacks. She fired volleys of ice spikes at both of us, but she still had to alternate between targets. I quickly ducked under the spikes she shot at me. Kieri blocked another set of spikes with a magic shield before retaliating with a holy magic attack. Lazuli drew her arm back to counter but I grabbed her again from behind.

That was a horrible decision.

She simply slammed me down, dodged the attack, then grabbed me by the ankle and _threw me at Kieri_ , knocking us both down.

Ow, pain! Oh, everything's in pain...

Kieri easily got up after that, shoving me off her with surprising carelessness.

Meanwhile, I was still in pain. In pain and vaguely aware of various tremors coming from the other side of the lake...

Goddamn it. Not even two hits and I'm already at my limit. I only got winded, but I'm actually having difficulty _standing up_.

And without any support at all, Kieri's going to get her ass kicked. Doubly so if Talus already took out Buwaro and Rhea-

That reminds me how are they doing? I looked in their direction.

Wait, he _still_ hasn't managed anything? Are they seriously that hard to catch?

And why am I thinking as if being hard to catch in this situation is a _bad thing?_

I managed to get on my feet, albeit unsteadily. I looked up. Things weren't really going well anymore. Lazuli had already gotten the upper hand.

She dodged a holy magic attack, and struck Kieri several times before knocking her down with a blast of dark magic.

I had to give Kieri an opening.

I slowly made my way towards the two of them, keeping myself behind Lazuli. I wasn't taking any chances.

"Face it, you're outmatched." Lazuli kept taunting. "Without your sword, or that wimp watching your back, you won't...win...?"

Kieri was a bunny again.

"What the FUCK?!"

And there's the reaction.

Lazuli was barely grasping at straws by this point; things were already out of control as it is, she doubtfully needed this. She charged up a blast of dark magic in her hand again...

Only for it to fly out in the complete opposite direction.

Knee to the back tends to be pretty distracting.

Damn it, me, stop it!

Kieri looked up in surprise. I grabbed both of Lazuli's arms and pulled hard, holding my knee to her back, keeping her from attacking again.

"Go! Now!"

I kneed her again, but she used her water magic to freeze her hand, forcing me to let go. Now I had little choice other than just run the hell away in Kieri's direction.

"Hey! I'm not done with you!" Lazuli shouted after me.

Like hell I'm going to answer. And where the hell did Kieri go?

Well, logically she'd have come to the others' defense-

There she is!

She stood between Talus and his... prey for lack of better term at the moment. I heard her shout something in Angelic, and suddenly, water shot out of one of the many large cracks in the ice. There was a rumbling sound as Talus reeled backwards, completely drenched.

As I ran towards them, I realised just how big that crack was; I also realised just how many such cracks there were in the ice. Seriously, how is this whole thing even stable at this point?!

Talus shook himself dry, dislodging a large purple something from his-

The sword!

Kieri dashed straight for the object, but recoiled upon coming into contact with the dark purple cloth it was wrapped in, crying out in pain.

"Nice try." Lazuli taunted. "A holy being like yourself can't touch that special clo-!"

I simply snatched the thing up myself.

Harmful to holy beings, ineffectual for someone without any Holy or Unholy influence.

"Kind of dropped the ball there, dumbass." I said, removing the sword from inside the cloth. "Also, your friend has a _horrible_ reaction time."

And it was at that moment that Talus attacked me.

Crying out in surprise, I turned and ran, dodging another axe swing that cracked the ice for the _umpteenth time!_ Come on! Do you want us all to die?!

Talus wound up for another swing, but Rhea quickly jumped on his arm and bit him, causing him to drop his axe, cracking the ice again.

Suddenly, I really wanted to get the hell off this lake.

I turned to see Kieri turn back into an angel and grab her pendant off the ground. I went over and handed her the sword.

Two large white wings emerged from Kieri's back, flaring out aggressively, as she took a combat stance, holding her sword horizontally one-handed.

"Wow, you look so cool!" Buwaro said in admiration and awe.

"Huh, guess she really is an angel!" Rhea said in surprise.

I said nothing; I just wanted to leave.

"So, you still think you can beat us-?"

Oh, you're so insecure.

...and of course, I said it aloud. Damn it.

"Come on! Would you just let me finish a single fucking sente-"

Kieri charged at Lazuli before she could finish or even react.

Kieri was surprisingly fast; her sword was a blur in her hands. Lazuli was clearly having a hard time keeping up, but still managed to block the first few swings before the sword finally cut her. Even then, they were only small cuts; she managed to block and dodge most of Kieri's attacks.

And Talus for some reason didn't do anything this whole time. Maybe eye-gouging was something he didn't want to repeat.

Not long into the fight, Kieri decided that it was enough.

In a single motion, she flipped over Lazuli's attack and stabbed the ground behind her with the sword. And before Lazuli could react, the ice melted—not cracked, _melted_ —under her feet, dropping her into the lake.

And with another swipe of her sword, the hole was frozen shut.

I could hear Buwaro and Rhea cheering beside me. Kieri had, of course, made quick work of Lazuli.

...I knew better.

I could see movement under the ice.

"Behind you!"

But Kieri didn't react fast enough.

Lazuli burst out of the ground, covered in small burnt cuts, and smacked the sword out of Kieri's hand, before blasting her with water magic, freezing her in place.

"Oh no! She's in trouble!" Buwaro yelped.

"Did you see the way that blue demon burst out?!" Rhea said in disbelief.

"We have to help her!" Buwaro and I said in unison.

"I bet the larger one can't do it..."Rhea muttered. She straightened up. "Okay. The two of you take the blue one!"

"Wait, what do we do?" Buwaro asked in surprise.

"Jamal can come up with something! _You_ can just piss her off and make her mess up; be yourself!"

And with that, she sprinted towards Talus, who _still hadn't moved._

"Okay, uh..." I said. "Try distracting her for now; if I can get Kieri free then we can-"

He was already going towards Lazuli.

What is it with people and forgetting I'm even there?

"No more distractions!" Lazuli growled, baring her teeth. "Now, you're going to d-"

Rock to the face. It does wonders. Especially when that rock is Thadius.

Not the time!

"Leave her alone, you big bully!" Buwaro shouted, putting himself between Lazuli and Kieri.

Lazuli just fired a volley of ice spikes at Buwaro, clutching an almost certainly broken nose with her free hand. Buwaro spat a ball of fire in response, flash-melting the spikes in midair into a harmless splash of water.

Which was awesome and all, but unfortunately, as soon as the spikes melted, Lazuli rushed Buwaro, bearing down on him with her claws and magic; she completely ignored Kieri's cries...

...As well as that shiny longsword at Kieri's feet.

I'll be damned if I let Buwaro die. I'd be even more damned if I let Lazuli come back.

I dashed for the sword, swiping it off the grou-

 _Jesus,_ this thing is heavy.

I steadied myself, holding the sword in a two-handed grip to keep myself from dropping it, and made my way towards Lazuli, raising the sword over my head.

She had already downed Buwaro, and was dramatically raising her hand, charging up a dark magic attack.

"That is IT!" she shouted angrily. "I'm ending this now-!"

I swung down. You can say goodbye to the rest of the claws on your ha-

Wait.

 _Fuck, I missed!_

The attack had managed to slice the claws off of Lazuli's hand and carve a long and deep gash along her arm, (Which was already starting to burn and rot(Goddamn it, disgusting))but it completely missed her head, which I had been aiming for.

Which meant I now had a furious water demon on my hands.

I swung the blade horizontally, but it was too late. She was on the warpath.

I frantically parried her swipes as she attacked me, her eyes finally glowing.

She could only attack with her uninjured arm, and her aim was off, but that didn't mean she wasn't attacking more ferociously. One misstep and I'm still dead.

Lazuli shot at me with magic and charged; too bad for her charging her attack alerted me, and I braced myself. She slammed into me with all the weight in her body. If she hadn't decided to grab me when she did that she'd have knocked me over.

Seriously, her nose is broken, she's covered in cuts and bruises and her right arm is pretty much useless, and my only advantage here is still the sword!

I managed to push her back and she stumbled, and I immediately saw an opening. As quickly as I could, I pointed the sword at her and thrust.

She just grabbed it! Grabbed it _by the blade_ and pulled me off my feet.

She threw it upwards and made to grab it by the hilt, but suddenly:

"Lazuli, HELP!"

It fell harmlessly next to me. Lazuli had turned around in surprise to see Talus treading water, where the ice had cracked beneath his weight. That's what he gets for repeatedly slamming and axe down on top of a frozen lake, several times!

Wait, was he in the end of the lake in front of Kieri instead of behind...?

"Talus, I'm coming!" she called and rushed to his aid.

Oh no you don't.

I grabbed the sword off the ground and ran after her.

Lazuli ran along one of the large cracks in the ice, with me in hot pursuit. She was already on her last legs from the extended fighting, the numerous injuries and the complete mangling of her patience; I pushed myself to catch up.

I slashed at her, missing the first time, but cutting her tail the second. She stumbled from the surprise hit.

Wide open!

I lifted the sword and stabbed.

Straight through her leg.

Goddamn it, I missed agai-

I was suddenly knocked off my feet for the third time today. Lazuli, frothing at the mouth, was holding her good arm out. She tried to get up, but it's a little hard to put your weight on a leg that's been _impaled at the upper thigh._

That was supposed to be a fatal blow... it's hard to aim with that thing.

I shakily got up and started backing away, deciding to shift my focus to Talus, who had resorted to desperately trying to claw his way out of the water, with little success, other than destroying the nearby ice floes and endangering Rhea as well.

Lazuli had also managed to get herself upright and was trying to remove the sword from her leg- Okay, that's a lot of blood.

There was the sound of ice shattering behind me. I was greeted with the sight of Kieri speeding past me, tearing out her sword from Lazuli's leg, and flying towards Talus. In one graceful move, she sliced his arm open.

Talus lost his grip on the ice, and fell into the water, shaking the ice floe he was holding onto apart. Rhea lost her footing and fell, but Kieri snatched her out of the air, flying towards me and landing safely. I saw Buwaro walk up to me out of the corner of my eye; he was covered in claw marks.

I looked at Lazuli-

Her leg is gone. There's blood everywhere.

I guess Kieri removed the sword _too_ quickly.

Kieri panted heavily. "It's over..." she muttered. "You lose."

"Over? No..." Lazuli growled. She fought to get up. "No. You can break me, drown me, _skin me alive,_ " she slipped on her blood, and tried getting up again. She was putting every last drop of her strength to speak. "As long as I still live, you're all as good as _dead!_ "

Kieri looked away.

"Do you hear me?!" Lazuli shouted. "I'll hunt you to the ends of the world! I'll make you suffer for what you've done! As long as I'm still breathing, it will never be over-!"

I kicked Lazuli into the crack.

And with a splash, she was gone.

"And that's the end of that." I said.

You know, I don't think she'll be coming back from that one.

I looked up. "We should really get off this lake."

* * *

 **A/N: Managing to swim out of a lake with a large bleeding gash on her waist is one thing. Managing to swim out of a lake while missing a leg, as well as already missing a lot of blood? Another thing entirely.**

 **Not even five chapters into this and we already have a divergence, though its effects may not be felt that soon.**

 **Also, in main comic news: Holy shit, Buwaro went berserk again. Those three demons are fucked, no questions asked. (Well...)**

 **Guest: The thing about magic is that there are six types: the four basic elemental types and the ones specific to Angels and Demons. So no, shadow magic isn't a thing he can learn (nor is it separate from dark magic; they're basically the same thing.). As for the future, well, we can only hope, hope that my character doesn't f**k this up. Speaking of which, what do you think of my character so far?**

 **See you all next time.  
**


	6. Chapter VI

**A/N: I am very sorry for how long it took to write this chapter. At least I managed to get it out this month...**

* * *

 _My POV_

After that, err, occurrence, we decided to take a break to catch our breath. Because seriously, there's no way that we can act like this didn't just happen.

So we went to shore and had lunch. We had a substantial amount of berries and nuts, but barely anything else. I was currently sitting near the edge of the lake, chewing on some leftover bread from yesterday.

"Damn it, stay still!"

"But that stuff hurts!"

We also took the time to patch ourselves up. While Rhea and I only had some bruises, and Kieri was fully cooperative about it again, Buwaro, well...didn't really like the dabbing alcohol. I know it stings, but suck it up already, come on. How it's this and not the actual injuries that affect him is beyond me.

At least I no longer feel tired.

And I've been chewing on the same stale piece of bread for the last 20 minutes. I spat it out and took another bite.

"There. Was that so hard?" Rhea said to Buwaro. He just pouted.

...

...

Okay, I've got to say something.

"Come on, you can't exactly complain." I said. "I mean, considering what just happened..."

"He does have a point there..." Rhea noted. "Our clothes are pretty much ruined."

For those of you who don't know, our clothing—well, more like mostly mine and Kieri's—is heavily bloodstained. We tried cleaning ourselves as best we could, but we weren't able to get that much of it out.

"Well, we're alive aren't we?" I said.

"I know she wanted to kill us, but did you really have to go _that_ far?"

"It doesn't matter anymore; we survived, they didn't."

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't shaken up by this whole thing. First I get trapped here, and now _this._

I took another bite, forgetting that I still hadn't swallowed the previous one.

Why-? Ugh.

Calm down, dude. It's over, it's over, it doesn't bother me, it doesn't bother me.

I swallowed, and took a deep breath.

"Well, we wouldn't have if it wasn't for her." Rhea gestured to Kieri. "Good thing she's stronger than she looks."

Kieri didn't seem to hear; she was sitting closer to the trees than the rest of us, absentmindedly eating her own share of food, even though it looked as if she had lost her appetite.

It's just as stressful for her as it is for me. We're going through similar situations...

No time to worry about that for now. At least for me. As for her...

I stood up. "Hey. You alright?"

She looked up. "U-uh, yes." she said quickly.

She doesn't sound all that alright.

"Why don't you come sit with us?" I suggested.

If I had a...unit of currency for all the times it's been said to _me_... I just find it kind of ironic. I've always been a bit of a loner.

"Come on, Snowy!" Buwaro said; he likely heard my suggestion.

Without waiting for an answer, he walked up to us and grabbed Kieri, and dragged her back where we were.

"You shouldn't drag people around like that." I told him.

"Sorry." he said, sitting down.

"So," Rhea started. "You looked like there was something eating you."

Buwaro let out a loud gasp. "Something wants to-!"

"It's an expression." Rhea interrupted him.

"It's..." Kieri sighed. "It's my fault you had to go through this. I'm sorry..."

"Don't be." Rhea said. "You were the one who took those demons out."

"And you were amazing out there." I said.

"Thank you, but I still owe you a great deal for taking care of me."

"Well, there's one thing I want you to do..." Rhea said.

"Really? What's that-?"

" _Tell us who and what the hell you are!_ " Rhea cut her off.

"Ah yes." I said, giving Buwaro a look. "There was some debate over that..."

"What?" he asked. " _What?_ "

Kieri sat down in front of us and spoke.

"My name is Kieri Suizahn. I am an angel from Heaven. I...was involuntarily sent here by...a portal..."

"A portal?" Rhea asked.

"In Heaven, we were having problems with several portals that would appear out of nowhere and drag people into them without warning. And one day, it happened with me."

I know this story. I already know this story. So why did it feel like it's the first time I've heard it...?

"I wasn't alone, however. My brother, his friend and a human were taken as well. We ended up in Farun's...uh, it's ce... uh..."

"Cemetery?" Rhea suggested.

"Yes, cemetery."

That was cute.

"It's exactly what happened to-"

"You have a brother?" Buwaro interrupted Rhea. That little tidbit must've caught his eye. "Can he turn into a bunny as well? I wanna meet him!"

Uh...

"His name's Kazai, and he's still in Farun. We're twins, b-but we're not that alike..."

Ah, the wonders of having a sibling. They're your lord and saviour one moment, and the bane of your existence the next.

God knows I can relate to that. As can a few other people I know.

"He can't turn into a bunny like me." Kieri continued. "I was cursed. I-I'm the only one and he doesn't know I'm like this..."

"Cursed? By who?" I asked. Rhea shot me a glare. I think I took the words out of her mouth again.

"Toski."

That got Rhea's attention. Buwaro was just confused as to why.

"A few days after we arrived, I had decided to take a walk by myself around the town. But then I saw a thief running from a shopkeeper. Even though I didn't bring my sword, I tried to stop her, but...she just cursed me and ran."

"Geez, I knew Toski hated angels, but that's actually really harsh." Rhea commented.

"It's all my fault for meddling. I..."

"How is that your fault?" I asked. "You didn't have any way of knowing that it was going to happen. It was less a mistake and more just plain bad luck."

I knew she had self-esteem issues, but this is actually saddening to listen to, blaming herself for simply wanting to help and failing due to an unknown factor. Would those two have reacted the same way in that situation?

Assuming they'd decide to help, of course.

"Just who is this Toski person anyway?" Buwaro said in a surprisingly _dangerous_ tone. "And why is she so mean?"

"She's one of the Twelve Guardians of Medius." Rhea explained. "There're three for each element, and she's one of the water guardians. She's a snow bunny, but as a guardian she can shapeshift into a Median to blend in with others."

"During the Great War, Toski sided with Hell." I continued the explanation. "And as a result, bunnies are considered bad luck. Taking all that into account, it doesn't take a genius to see why she attacked Kieri so readily."

"But then, what happened?" Rhea wondered. "How did you become separated from your brother?"

Kieri looked away.

"Oh, sorry! You don't have to tell us if you don't want to."

"It's okay." Kieri said. "You deserve to know." She took a breath and continued.

"A few days ago, Kazai, his friend Sanjulo and I were walking around Farun when suddenly, we encountered a fire demon. The three of us gave chase, but I fell behind and they didn't notice it at all..."

Those...those...

Her voice hitched.

"Before I could try to catch up, I was ambushed by those two demons. They overpowered me, and put those braces you found me with on me. They restrained my magic and left me unable to call for help."

"But then why would they be so easy to unlock?" Rhea wondered.

"I don't know." I shrugged. "Let's just be glad it _was_ that easy." I gestured for Kieri to continue.

"Next thing I knew, I was at the forest. The two of them had apparently gotten lost, and with my curse, I managed to escape. But due to the braces as well as my injuries, I didn't last long...

"Then the three of you found me and, you know the rest."

...

"Wow..." Rhea muttered.

"They must be worried sick looking for you..." Buwaro said.

I turned away before anyone noticed my wince. I already knew! But seeing it in person...

Those _idiots._

Did they really think Kieri was _that_ unimportant, or did they just think she was so _weak_ that she hadn't survived?

 _Why would they just leave her behind like that?_

"Jamal!"

I jumped. Guess I zoned out for a bit there... "Yeah?"

"What are you doing?" Rhea asked.

"I'm waiting for you so we can go." I lied – actually it wasn't a lie. "I just want to get to Farun already."

"Alright." she said. "Let's not waste any more time."

She and Kieri picked up their belongings, and without further comments, we set off.

* * *

The journey to Farun was going to take hours. Hours of doing nothing but trudge through snow, following a rather faded path. And after about two of those hours:

"Okay, you know what?" Rhea said. "Since Ki- uh..."

"Kieri." Said the aforementioned angel, who had turned into a bunny a few minutes before.

"Right. Since you were so kind as to tell us your story, I might as well tell you ours."

And so she told her story. From the day she died and got sent to Hell, to how she met Buwaro and his family and finally, to their escape from Hell.

"...and then, we were at the cemetery, and Sakido...she hadn't made it."

"I'm so sorry... I-I didn't know..." Kieri apologized. "I've been so insensitive..."

"It's okay, Snowy." Buwaro tried comforting her. "It wasn't your fault. And besides, I have you three now."

"We buried her in my grave, and left. We found you in the forest not long after."

It was surreal, actually, the whole storytelling thing. Like Kieri's story, I already knew what transpired, but this time, I admittedly tried tuning it out. At least until the end...

However, as a result of the story, the rest of the journey was going to end up being spent in silence. Even Buwaro had gone quiet.

God, I wish every day was this relaxing.

Too bad I'm still stuck here. Damn it.

"Wait." Kieri realized. "But what about Jamal? He wasn't a part of your story."

Rhea and Buwaro stopped and looked at me.

"There's not much to tell." I said. "I woke up at the cemetery, with no recollection of how I got there, or even where I came from, and the first thing I see, is them." I point at Rhea and Buwaro. "I had no other options, so I asked them for help; they'd already found you by then."

"You could've phrased that better, you know." Rhea said.

"The only other people for miles around were the Jakkai in the village, and that's a big no."

"That's not much better."

" _There's nothing else to say._ " I said. "Other than I might be sticking around for a while. At least until I either regain my memories, or possibly find my family."

And that's the sad part. Unless I find out how I got sent here, neither of those things will happen.

They stayed mercifully quiet. That's good.

I _need_ to find out. _But I don't know how._

* * *

We finally arrived at the outskirts of Farun. It was a surprisingly small and quaint town, the kind that barely has even a thousand inhabitants. As a guy who grew up in a large port city, I can proudly say that this is my favourite kind of town. It reminds me of this other town I used to go to during the holidays...

Only this place had snow instead of dust. And it had a larger amount of trees.

"Okay we're here." Rhea said, stopping at the forest's exit.

Kieri, having transformed into a bunny midway through the walk, jumped out of Buwaro's hands and transformed again.

"So, are you gonna go see your brother?"

"Yes. I will check the inn where we were staying at." she said.

"Don't forget your sharp thing!" Buwaro said, handing Kieri the sword.

"We'll go with you then." Rhea said. "Buwaro, stay here and watch our stuff."

"Huh, why?"

"You can't go around looking like that! I'll get you some clothes to cover you up."

"Oh...I see..."

It's amazing how someone this cheerful is this emotionally fragile.

"Oh, no offense!" Rhea stuttered. "It's just, uh-"

"There's no point dancing around the bush, Rhea." I grunted, rolling my eyes. I turned to Buwaro. "We can't have anyone freaking out at the sight of you, both because of inconvenience and possible danger."

He looks so _dejected_. I'm actually starting to feel really bad for him.

"You know what, you two go ahead. I'm going to keep him company for now."

"Suit yourself." Rhea shrugged, and left along with Kieri to get some clothing for Buwaro.

Wait, clothing-!

"Rhea! Wait!" I called out. She turned around and came back.

"What?"

"Make sure you get him something that...won't get us some very awkward questions."

"Why exactly are you worried about that? I'm not gonna get him something ridiculous."

"I just want us to be clear on that."

She just gave me a look, then turned around and left.

Seriously, the pimp outfit did its job, but it was more annoying than helpful...I did not want to have to deal with it.

* * *

 _Buwaro's POV_

I sighed as the two of them went through the gate into the town.

"I don't get it." I muttered.

"Hmm?"

"What is it about demons that everyone keeps getting worked up about?"

"Well..." Jamal sighed. "Demons don't exactly have the best reputation." He leaned against a tree. "They're known throughout Medius as sadistic torturers that punish those bad enough to go to Hell. And if those two back at the lake were any indication, they aren't wrong."

"But I'm not like that!" I insisted.

"I know." he said. "But you're an exception. Not the rule. Anyone who sees you will just immediately assume you're like the others; they'll be terrified. Most would probably just run, but some may try to defend themselves. That's what the clothing is for, to stop people from getting scared."

"It just doesn't feel right..." I sighed.

"It's what we'll have to deal with. You can think of it as...people seeing you for who you are instead of what you are." he said. He sat down on the snow.

...

"So..." Jamal started.

"What?"

"What was it like? In Hell?"

"Well, I lived close to the River Styx, and there were a lot of rocks everywhere, and some mountains..."

"Sounds boring."

I lowered my head. "It was." I looked up again. "But I had Thadius to keep me company, so it wasn't bad at all! And I had Death, and Sakido..."

I sighed.

"I miss Hell. I miss her."

What Jamal did next caught me off-guard a little.

He went over and hugged me.

"Aw, hugs are nice!"

I hugged him back.

"Thank you!"

"You looked like you needed one." he patted me on the back.

And then he sat down and went silent.

Eventually, Rhea came back, carrying some kind of box over her head.

"I'm back."

"Hey."

"I missed you, Rhea!"

I jumped at her and hugged her.

"I hope he wasn't too much trouble." she said.

Nah, he was actually really goo-

"No, actually-" Jamal cut himself off.

Huh?

Wait, did Rhea mean me or him...?

"Anyway, here are your clothes. Turns out an old friend of mine was working at the store I went to for them. I'm surprised he got a job after what happened last time..."

"Do we want to know?" Jamal asked.

Rhea carefully opened the box. "You'll need to put everything on." I took the clothes out from inside the box.

I put on a large dark red coat over my own coat, covering my wings and tail, and an equally large dark red hat to go with it on my head, poking through it with my horns. I also had to put on a pair of white gloves and some really large leather shoes that went up to my knees. Those were pretty hard to put on and kind of uncomfortable to wear.

"So, how do I look?" I asked.

"Wow, that's...not nearly as bad as I thought it would be." Rhea said, looking pleasantly surprised. "I mean, uh..."

"Hey, it works. A little unusual, but not too out of the ordinary." Jamal noted. Was he smirking?

"I feel classy!" I stated cheerfully.

"Also," Jamal said. "You'll probably need this."

He handed me that weird-looking handkerchief we got at the lake.

"Your disguise is great, but it doesn't cover your face. You'll have to put that on."

"Okay." I said. I grabbed it by the edges and...

"How do I do that?"

"Here, let me help." Jamal sighed, still smirking.

After putting the handkerchief over my mouth, we stepped foot into Farun.

And it was awesome. Something and the sky was changing color!

"Well, looks good so far." Rhea muttered. She was probably taking about my disguise.

"Wow, this place is so different from Hell!" I said in awe. "I wanna explore!"

"Maybe tomorrow." Rhea said. "It's late, and we're all exhausted."

But there was so much to see! There were so many houses, so many people!

"But can we do it tomorrow for sure? Can you promi-?

"Yes." Jamal said. "For now, let's just get to the i-"

"Oh, what's that?" I noticed one of the houses was different from the others. It had a large window in the front with some of the symbols I saw on Rhea's book on it. And there were several things visible inside.

I ran over to the building and tried to get a better look.

"You see what I have to deal with?" I hear Rhea mutter.

Why is she still being mean?

"It's adorable, he's like a little kid."

See, Jamal gets it- wait, what?

"Uh, come on, we still have to go meet Kieri and Kazai." he said, pulling me away from the window. He's right!

"Okay, how are you so good with names?" Rhea glared.

"Come on! What are you waiting for?" I said, running ahead. "Let's go meet Snowy!"

Maybe running ahead was a bad idea. Turns out the inn was in the other direction.

* * *

 **A/N: And there we go. Small changes have taken place. Although the most noticeable one is Buwaro's costume, by virtue of telling Rhea to be a bit more specific about her choice. Bonus points if anyone can tell me who Buwaro's dressed up as.**

 **Also, I'm going on a week-long trip next week, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to write during that time, so the next chapter may probably be just as delayed as this one.**

 **Guest: Once again, he can't really learn anything outside of Median elemental magic, if any magic at all.**

 **Timeless Dreamer Neo: That's still pretty far away... We'll just have to see...**

 **InvictusValeyard: Thank you for your kind words, good sir.**


	7. Chapter VII

**A/N: Okay then. So, this took a little longer than it should've. I mean, between all the school projects, family outings, and general lack of computer access...  
I still should've been able to have this out **_**months ago!**_

 **So for that, I'm deeply sorry for how much you've all had to wait. But, at least I finally managed to get this thing out! It's a tad longer than the previous ones, hope that makes up for the delay.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _My POV_

He's only had the disguise for 15 minutes and I'm already doubting its superiority over the pimp suit. I mean, it's doing its job properly; no weird looks are being sent our way...

But seriously? Out of all the possible articles of clothing he could've gotten, _that's_ what he ends up with?

These brain cells could've been used to formulate the perfect plan to escape this realm! Instead, they're stuck on the fact that he looks like Alucard from Hellsing!

It didn't help that the overcoat itself was several sizes too big, and the only reason it wasn't being dragged through the ground was because Buwaro was holding it up with his wings. It gave the distinct impression that he had really broad shoulders.

So I've been spending most of those 15 minutes trying to stop grinning like an idiot. And then Buwaro ended up getting lost almost immediately and Rhea's exhausted ranting followed that. Combine the fact that the sun had set by the time we found him...I least I managed to stop grinning.

I nearly sighed in relief when we finally got to the inn. It wasn't particularly large or nice-looking, but at this point I'll take what I can get. I just wish we got here sooner; it's already colder than I can stand out here, _and this jacket does NOTHING!_

"Hello, and welcome to the Snow Drop Inn, travellers!" said a gruff voice from behind the counter as we came in. "Hey, aren't you a little late to the festival, miss?" It's playing out just like before. "And your coat-"

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before." Rhea interrupted him. "I have a condition, so I don't have a winter coat, okay? Just hook us up with a room for three."

Yep, almost exactly the same. The only difference is my presence, in this toasty warm place...

No time to zone out just yet, you lazy moron. You've got shit to do.

The innkeeper grumbled something under his breath. "We don't have rooms for three people..." he grunted, handing Rhea a dip pen...?

Oh, right. Ballpoint pens don't exist. Still getting used to this.

"At this point, I'll just have someone sleep on the floor." Rhea said as she took the pen and wrote her name down on the ledger.

Buwaro, meanwhile, looked around the room in obvious wonder, and one of the paintings on the wall caught his eye. It was a rather uninteresting image of a summer forest, but Buwaro seemed completely riveted, approaching it to take a closer look...that is until he spotted a flower vase a couple feet away and started poking the flowers.

Heh. Little kid indeed.

"Pardon me, but," the innkeeper said. "Your friend seems rather strange..."

Same comment as before. At least now he's referring to Buwaro's behaviour and not his clothing.

At least mostly...I think. At the very least how someone with that clothing would act. Or how disproportionally big it is.

"Don't mind him, he...just doesn't get out much."

Awesome cover story there, Rhea. Really.

"Hey, my friend Ramirez's name is in this ledger! What gives?" Rhea said.

"Oh, Mr. Bloodeyes? Yeah, he said he was leaving the village to study medicine in some big city. I forgot which one it was, though."

And it was supposedly an unexpected thing for him to do, if I remember correctly, and if Rhea's expression was any indication. But between witnessing the tragic death of a friend and some possible friction with the rest of the villagers, it's actually pretty reasonable, and sad.

Even though the knife was up to the hilt in her chest, possibly hitting her heart or even her spine, it's unlikely that Rhea's death was instant. She probably died in Ramirez's arms. _That_ would've been traumatic.

Then again, I was never that good at Biology. And God knows how different a Jakkai's anatomy actually is from a human's.

"Your name is Rhea Snaketail?" the innkeeper asked.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"The three of you are friends of Carrie Susan, right?"

Rhea glanced at me. I shrugged.

I mean, I knew, but that'd be my reaction if I didn't.

"Sorry, sir. We don't know anyone with that name." Rhea said.

"Oh, I'm mangling her name again! You know, the angel!"

"Oh! Yeah we know her."

"She told me that you'd be coming. If you're all friends with a sweet girl, then the room's on the house."

"Heh, looks like being with an angel has its advantages!" Rhea noted triumphantly.

"I'll still have to charge you for food, though." And there goes her bubble.

"Thanks, you're a real saint." she groaned rudely.

I lightly slapped her ear. "Rhea…" I warned. I turned to the innkeeper. "Don't mind her, she's just been having a bad time."

He looked me up and down. "I could say the same thing about you." he stated.

"I suppose Kieri told you what happened." I sighed. "I was sort of hoping I could borrow some clothing for now while I have _this_ washed."

"Yes, I could lend you some of my old clothes for the time being, but..." He looked at me up and down again. "I don't think I have anything your size."

"Eh, anything will do for now. Don't worry."

Buwaro suddenly came up behind us. "So what are we waiting for?" You. "Let's go see Snowy!"

"We should give her some time alone" I suggested, because Rhea was too busy glaring at me. "Time to catch up with her brother, y'know?"

"Her brother's not here." the innkeeper blurted out.

The three of us froze.

"Not long after she disappeared, her brother and his friend packed up their things and left to who knows where." he explained. "I swear I heard her heart break when I told her that they were gone."

I didn't even need to look at the two of them to know how they felt in regards to this.

Kieri essentially lost the chance to reunite with her only family in Medius.

"You're her friends, you should make sure she's okay." the innkeeper suggested. "She's in room three, right next to yours."

We exchanged looks, and then went up the stairs in silence.

The stairs led to a short hallway with six or so doors evenly spaced between each other. It was a little hard to tell though, because the hallway lacked any lights. The only lighting was from downstairs.

"So, our room's room two," Rhea said. "I think that's further down the hall."

"Actually, it's right here." I pointed at the door that was right next to us. The number 2 wasn't difficult to make out for me, so even less so for her or Buwaro.

Rhea just groaned. "Shut up, I haven't been here in a long time..." she said, unlocking the door, and going inside.

Behind the door there was a fairly spacious room, with two forest green beds on one side, a pair of windows and matching drapes, and an almost-empty-but-not-quite lantern hanging from the ceiling by an iron chain.

The room was admittedly...kind of messy. There were cobwebs here and there, a round spot on the wall, where there might've been a mirror, and a burn mark on the adjacent wall for some reason; I get the idea someone's fire elemental kid failed to control his magic. But at this point, I'd gladly sleep on the floor. At least now I'm not in imminent danger of freezing to death.

"C'mon, let's go see Snowy." Buwaro insisted.

"Can't we just rest for a bit?" Rhea sighed, as she put her stuff on the bed closest to her. "Today's been even more insane than usual;" she sighed again and scratched her chest. "I'm starting to feel sick..."

"Well," I said. "You can go ahead and rest. If you need us, we'll be in the other room with Kieri."

Rhea just nodded and hopped onto the bed, as Buwaro and I stepped out of the room and closed the door behind us.

Unfortunately, there was too little light for me to see any room numbers aside from room 1, so I had no idea where room 3 was.

"He said Snowy was in room 3?" Buwaro asked.

"Yeah, but...I can't tell which one of these it is. It's too dark. You can see in the dark, right? Wich one is it?"

"I..." he trailed off.

Oh wait. Right, I forgot.

"I don't know how to read." Buwaro sighed. "I don't understand any of these symbols. I mean, there wasn't much else in Hell other than rocks, so..."

"Look, don't worry, I get it." I said. "I guess we could just...wait until my eyes adjust or something..."

"Hmm..." he seemed to perk up. "I know!"

"Buwaro, what are you gonna do-?"

And suddenly, Buwaro's eyes started glowing. I'll admit, it startled me at first glance.

"Jamal, are you okay?"

"Yeah, just...caught me by surprise is all. I didn't know you could do that."

Actually I did but- you know what? Never mind.

"All demons can do this." Buwaro explained. "I saw Sakido, uh, do it a couple of times, so I decided to try and see if I could do it. Everything looks brighter when I do it."

Not the best logic, and the glow was actually rather faint, but it was good enough. At least now I could see which door was which. I walked over to Kieri's door and knocked, waiting for her to open the door.

And Kieri was promptly greeted with the sight of a large shadowy figure with glowing red eyes.

A figure that excitedly called out "Hi Snowy!" and threw itself on her and hugged her.

"It's me, Buwaro!" Buwaro quickly calmed her down, removing his bandana to show her. "I'm in disguise!"

"O-Oh, I see..."

"We came to see how you were holding up." I told her. "As for Rhea, she's taking a break in the next room." I sat down on her bed. "So, are you alright?"

"Yes." She said quickly.

...

She sighed and sat down next to me on the bed. "No. Kazai left with Zahariah days ago."

"They're probably looking for you right now." Buwaro put forth, sitting down with us.

"The innkeeper told me they headed east." Kieri said.

"That's the completely wrong direction." I noted. "We found you to the west of Farun."

Kieri looked downtrodden.

"So they're either completely lost trying to find you, or..."

"Or...?"

 _Or they did in fact leave her for dead._

 _No_ , actually. That's too far. Think, what other reasons would they have...?

"...You said that the three of you were chasing a demon when you were separated, right? They might've correctly assumed you were kidnapped and _incorrectly_ believe that that demon in particular was the one responsible, so they're still chasing him."

"But if that's the case," Kieri sighed. "Then there's too far gone to reach..."

"Don't worry." Buwaro assured her. "We'll help you find your brother!"

Yes. We will. But as much as I want the matter to be undisputed...

I'll have to argue against.

"That's easier said than done." I stated flatly. "We're about as far west as we can get, so east for us means virtually the whole continent to search."

I know for a fact it isn't the case, but unless someone points it out...

"Don't give up so easily!" Buwaro shot back. "We have to help!"

"I know and I want to!" I raised my voice a little. "But it's going to be borderline impossible when we have to look literally everywhere, from the towns, to the forests and mountains!"

Take the hint, take the hint, TAKETHEHINT-

"Wait!" Kieri cried, pushing us apart. "Please stop fighting!"

...

I sighed. "I'm sorry, it's just...I'm trying to see how we're gonna be able to reach them..."

Buwaro counted something with his claws, and then spoke up. "It's only been two days since they left! They can't have gone far!"

"You're right, but...where exactly would they have gone?"

"Well..." Kieri said. "Neither of them know how to s-survive on their own, especially in this climate. If they went anywhere, it almost certainly was another town."

"...Which means they must've gone to Riverside City." I said. "It's a few days walk and it's directly east from here. They might've gotten there already if they flew."

I stood up. "So it's decided. We leave tomorrow morning. We'll help you find your brother."

"...Thank you." Kieri said, clearly relieved.

"No problem!" Buwaro said cheerfully, wrapping his arm around her. "What kind of friends would we be if we didn't help?"

She smiled at that. Coupled with that noticeable blush on her cheeks...

We were set. In more ways than one.

"We'll have to get some supplies first, for the trip." I reminded them. "A map, food, some extra clothes, and...yeah, I think that's it."

"I'm gonna go tell Rhea!" Buwaro said, as he quickly made to leave the room...

...and proceeded to trip on his overcoat and faceplanted on the floor.

I held back the need to laugh. "Yeah, that coat is definitely too big for you." I deadpanned.

"Come on!" Buwaro whined, getting up off the floor. "I least I look good in it!"

I smirked. I'll admit, I couldn't help but tease him just this once. "Buwaro, that's debatable. You're too short for it. I mean, _I'd_ probably be a better fit-"

My answer came in the form of Buwaro throwing the coat at me. "Here. You try it!"

"Sure..."

I decided not to bother with my jacket; the coat would've still looked baggy on me otherwise. It stunned me that Jake's shop had something this size, and that's not counting the fact that it was very recognizable...

"It's too big even for me..." I muttered. "Okay, how do I look?"

Kieri smiled at me. "I think you look good."

"Point proven." I took the coat off and handed it back to Buwaro. "Just be careful next time, Buwaro."

"Okay!" he said, putting it back on and leaving the room. "Bye, Snowy!"

"Bye, Buwaro."

"And now, if you don't mind," I said as I stepped out. "I'm gonna go to the laundry room."

* * *

 _Kieri's POV_

I was once again alone in the room. But my previous thoughts were replaced with new ones.

Those three...they were far different, than anyone else I had seen so far.

Buwaro was the complete opposite of what I expected the first time I saw him. He was incredibly friendly, generous, and...rather warm in a sense. Despite him being a Demon, he showed absolutely no malice, at any point, towards me, or his companions. He'd worried for me, and immediately jumped to my defense when Lazuli came back for me...

Rhea on the other hand, was much more rude and easy to anger...but she'd still lent a hand. Behind the fiery temper and flippant attitude, she did care; though it looks as if it's the first time she's gone this far in order to help. Considering her story, she might be trying to redeem herself, now that she has a second chance.

And then there was Jamal...

From the way he dressed to how he carried himself, he managed to stick out like a sore thumb. He's stayed mostly polite with everyone, but seemed like he preferred the sidelines to direct action. Despite that, he had a deadly serious air about him, and only lost his composure when we fought Lazuli. Not to mention how quickly he managed to incapacitate her...

I was torn between being thankful or unsettled.

It wasn't just because of that. There was something oddly...fami-

There was a knock on the door.

"Hey, Kieri, it's me." I recognized his voice. "Can you let me in, please?"

I stood up and opened the door for him.

He muttered a thank you before coming in, carrying two trays of food in his hands.

I decided to take the chance and have a closer look.

He was wearing a plaid shirt along with bright blue pants, and both of these were obviously a few sizes too small; but they still managed to fit him. I realized that he was much...scrawnier than I initially believed, for someone of his height. He even had a small amount of stubble on his chin. If I had to guess, I'd say he was about 19 years old.

Maybe younger.

"I got us some food on the way here." He said, handing me one of the trays. It had a steaming bowl of rice, along with a full glass of juice and even a small amount of salad. "I told the innkeeper I'd get something for you, so he gave me both trays for free."

He sat down and started to eat. "Well, what are you waiting for? You can go ahead and eat."

"I..." I sighed. "It's just...Everyone's been so...nice to me. I haven't done anything to deserve it. Besides, I-I'm not that hungry anyway..."

Jamal took a moment to swallow his food before answering. "They're just trying to help. I mean, what kind of people would they be if they left you to suffer like that?"

...

"Besides, we haven't eaten anything decent in over a day. You _have_ to eat that."

Now that he mentioned it... the only things I've had to eat were a few berries and nuts. Tasty, but not very filling...

And he's had nothing but bread. No wonder he's eating that fast.

We ate in silence. My mind continued to wonder...

Everyone had come to help... even Jamal; he put his own problems aside...

His problems...

He was stuck here, much like I was; only he didn't even remember how he got separated from his family. He didn't even remember what his family was _like_...

...If he wanted me to receive the help that everyone was giving me, then he'd surely accept help given to him. But how do I talk to him about it?

...

"So...how will you find _your_ family?"

Jamal froze, his fork holding the very last piece of his salad above the plate.

...Mother Gaia, I am terrible at starting conversations.

"Well..."

...

He slumped. "I don't know." he groaned. "I tried to see if I could remember anything else; I-I've been so caught up in the whole waking up in the middle of nowhere thing and fighting DEMONS that I hadn't tried to see what else I could remember."

He stood up suddenly, almost causing his plate to fall off the tray. "I forgot more than I thought." he said. "I forgot the names of all my family members, I forgot several important dates in my life, I even forgot how to use my magic!"

"Wait, what?!" His magic?! How does one forget how to use magic?!

"I don't even know what my surname is, or what day it is, or what type of magic I have!" he dropped face-first on the other bed. He mumbled something I didn't manage to understand.

"B-But," I tried to think of something that could lift his spirits a little. "You can't have forgotten _everything._ " ...Why is that the only thing that came to mind?

Surprisingly, it worked. He sat up. "You're right. I might not be able to remember where I live, but I remember what it was _like_. It was warm, and it didn't snow at all. I think it was close to the sea, too. That puts me somewhere around the east coast, in one of the larger cities."

It's almost like he forgot I was even there... Almost as if...

"So, yeah." He turned to me. "I'm gonna be okay. For now, finding your brother takes priority."

..What..?

One second, he was lamenting himself, and the next he's suddenly back to his earlier attitude? I'm...

"We should get some sleep." he suggested quickly.

You know what? I'm not going to press the subject. He's probably just a little shaken after everything that's happened. I guess we all are.

I think I'm just going to finish my meal.

I grabbed my fork again and continued eating. I think I might've eaten what was left a little fast, because I was done much quicker than I thought I would've been.

"You know," he said, breaking the silence. "You could probably teach me."

"What?"

"Magic. Like, tomorrow, you could help me learn magic again."

"I...I'm not sure how much help I could be. I have no idea where to s-start. I've never taught anyone before..."

"You'll be fine." he assured me. "You're really good at magic. I'm certain we'll be able to work something out."

"But...What if you're not a water elemental?"

He thought for a moment. "...I think you'd still be able to get me _started_ , if that's the case. At this point, it'd be more than enough."

He lied down on the bed. "I mean, we're not gonna know unless we try, right?"

I didn't answer. Silence filled the room.

I could feel today's event catch up to me; I hadn't realised just how exhausted I was.

With nothing else left to do, I decided I should just go to sleep. I pulled the covers back on the bed opposite Jamal's, lied down, pulled the covers back up over myself and waited for sleep to come.

I didn't have to wait long.

"Kazai?"

"Yes, sister?" he replied.

"What are we going to do?" I asked him. "We don't belong here. What if..." I stuttered. "What if we can never return home?"

Kazai put his hands around my shoulders. "Don't worry Kieri." he comforted me. "As long as were together..." he paused. "We can get through anything."

But as I looked in his eyes, behind the smile he gave me...

When we had arrived in that cemetery, he had immediately taken charge of the situation. I'd failed him. I got separated from him, and now there's little chance of us reuniting. I...

I just wanted to apologize. For being a burden...

"Brother, I-"

But suddenly, a series of blood red spikes shot out of the ground. Before I could react, the spikes then surged around me, trapping me between them.

"What is this?! I-I can't move!"

"Well, would you look at that!" a voice growled out from my surroundings, which had now become as featureless and dark as the spikes. "All that struggling for nothing!"

The owner of the voice stepped into view.

It was Lazuli. But she was hardly recognizable. Her clothing had changed, her fur had darkened...and all her injuries were there. All the cuts were vividly visible, all of them were bleeding and her leg...

"Worthless wretch...you thought it would be that easy?!"

"N-no, no, you shouldn't be-you shouldn't be here!"

"But I am NOW!" she shouted angrily. "And this time, I'm going to finish the job!"

I desperately called for help. "KAZAI! ZAHARIAH!"

"Shut up!" Lazuli smacked me across the face. "No one is coming to save you! Why would anyone save a freak like you?!"

I watched in horror as my hands slowly grew fur and morphed into paws. I could feel my ears becoming longer and growing fur as well.

"N-no!"

All of a sudden they were in front of me. Both Kazai and Zahariah were standing before me, with looks of disgust and rage.

"Disgusting monster...how dare you call me 'brother'!"

"We were right to leave her behind, after all..."

"NO!" I was screaming now. "I'M NOT A MONSTER! NO-!"

"I said, shut up!" Lazuli reappeared and smacked me harder. I was vaguely aware of something wet on my face. She must have cut me with her claws when she struck me.

"You weren't worth it to keep alive for this long..." she growled. "The moment you showed up it was nothing but problems and more problems!"

She stepped forward, raising her hand, her horribly scarred hand, over her head. "It's time to _fix_ this issue... "

But then, a small pebble flew out from the darkness and hit Lazuli's head.

"Leave her alone!" A voice called out. Lazuli turned around in the direction of the voice.

It was Buwaro and Rhea. They had...

"We're not gonna let you kill her!" Rhea shouted defiantly.

"Heh," Lazuli huffed. "As if you and that runt will be able to stop me! I'm not afraid of you!"

"YOU SHOULD BE!" Rhea shouted, and she and Buwaro charged at Lazuli.

Lazuli hadn't reacted fast enough to stop herself from getting tackled, but she'd almost immediately negated their efforts by just standing up. She shoved Buwaro off her, and grabbed Rhea by her tail.

Buwaro, however, got back on his feet and punched Lazuli hard enough to make her stumble, but then she swung Rhea by her tail and threw her at Buwaro, knocking them both down.

She raised her hand, charging a spell. "You know what? That's it! You'll all the same fate!"

"That is unlikely!" Jamal had suddenly appeared in front of Lazuli, and had wasted no time in attacking. He kicked her leg, knocking her off-balance, before punching her to the floor. But Lazuli quickly got back up, charging at him. He dodged the first punch and threw his own, but she caught it in her hand, grabbed him by his shoulder, and headbutted him, and he careened backwards, clutching his face.

Rhea leapt out at her, hoping to catch her off-guard again, but Lazuli was faster and smacked her out of the way.

The situation was hopeless. They weren't fighters. They wouldn't last long against her.

Why am I just standing here, watching them die?

...

Why am I still standing here?! They need my help!

I pushed against the spikes holding me in with all my strength. I'm not going to let them die!

Jamal and Buwaro had both resorted to grabbing Lazuli by each arm and were attempting to force her down; with Jamal slamming his elbow down on her back repeatedly and Buwaro biting down on her shoulder, but it wasn't having any effect.

Rhea jumped on top of Lazuli, trying to claw her back open, but at the continued punishment, Lazuli pulled both Jamal and Buwaro off their feet, forcing them to let go, before grabbing Rhea again, this time by her arm, and opened her jaw, ready to bite her head off.

I could feel my ears shrinking, and could see my hands quickly lose their fur, now able to grasp the spikes harder than before.

Come on! Give! I'm not going to let this happen!

Jamal promptly kneed Lazuli in the stomach, and she let go of Rhea, but she instead knocked Jamal down with a powerful swipe, and stomped down on his chest with her mangled leg.

And then Buwaro charged at her from behind, yelling loudly, claws raised over his head. Lazuli turned and stopped Buwaro dead in his tracks by grabbing his throat, before slamming him down harshly. Her free hand sparked with magical energy.

NO!

The spikes shattered, and I was free.

I charged forward, sword in hand, wings and halo flaring out. Lazuli barely had enough time to look up before I reached her.

And with one swing of my sword, she was gone.

Seeing that the danger was gone, Buwaro, Rhea and Jamal all shakily got up and approached me with smiles on their faces. I spoke.

"Thank you, for coming to rescue me..."

"No problem." Jamal said.

"It was nothing!" Rhea added.

"Yeah!" Buwaro said. "After all..." he gave me a hug, which I returned.

"What are friends for?"

 **A/N: And there we go.  
I realize that I cannot promise a regular update schedule, but I can promise that I'm not ending this just yet, and that I'll try a little harder to avoid updates taking too long. Although I might go back and edit previous chapters to make the whole thing flow a little better. Who knows?**

 **Guest: You guessed right on the costume being Alucard's. It's also his size, so in other words no one in the group can wear that thing comfortably. On another note, Rhea's had her POV shown before, and she will have it shown again. Soon, I believe.**

 **SlyRiolu: Okay.**

 **Guest (2): It's pretty clear that this is an eventuality. Jamal's had time to think up a good cover story to buy him time and keep questions about his past away, but it's not perfect, and he saw himself forced to modify it on the fly in this chapter. Plus, he's not the best actor out there.**

 **Guest (3): Worry not, my friend, for I have come to deliver this chapter, and am ready to continue delivering.**

 **See you next chapter, everyone. Here's to hoping it doesn't take as long.**


	8. Chapter VIII

**A/N: Here I present to you, chapter 8 of our story. Well, I missed both my self-imposed deadline, as well as the story's anniversary—it's kind of hard to believe I've been writing this fic for over a year now—but I managed to save it as a Christmas present for all of you. Enjoy the longest chapter so far.**

* * *

 _My POV_

God, this night was horrible.

This time it took me 3 straight hours of lying on the bed, plus 2 more hours of pacing around the room before I even began feeling sleepy. And now that I've woken up the sun isn't even close to rising yet. It's 6:30am.

And the room's gotten colder overnight—still far from "freezing to death", but enough to be annoyingly uncomfortable—so I resorted to pacing around the room again to try and warm up.

At least Kieri looked to be faring a little better than before. Well, aside from the nightmare she was having earlier at least...

After a while, I sat down on my bed, rubbing my face. Last night was too close a call. I'd almost forgotten to factor in my lack of magic, something that thankfully no one had noticed earlier on. I sincerely hoped that I could actually use magic here; that would make things so much easier.

But there's no way of knowing for sure until Kieri starts mentoring me. I could probably not have magic at all, but it's something I can't explain either way. There's probably some sort of birth defect out there that prevents people from having magic that could justify it...

...Or it would give me away way too soon. I haven't been with the group that long, but spotting my lie even this early on would be a huge blow to our mutual trust...

I sighed. This is too hard.

I rubbed my face again, only now noticing the light amount of stubble on my chin. Huh, maybe I should buy a razor later today. Hopefully they have a safety razor instead of just a blade...

I grabbed my glasses from their spot on the nearby bedside table. They were a little smudged and covered in dust and snow, accompanied by several small scratches.

Well, they're not going to clean themselves. At least it gives me something to do...

I had just finished cleaning the left lens (using the innkeeper's shirt) and started on the right when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked up.

Kieri was stirring.

I half-smiled to myself, and continued cleaning my glasses.

I heard her mutter something in Angelic.

"Good morning, Kieri." I said.

She looked up, blushing a little. "G-good morning." she replied.

I put my glasses on. "Okay, so uh..." I rubbed the back of my head. What was I about to say again?

"Sleep well?"

...

Well, it was something at least.

"...Yes." she said slowly, sitting up in her bed. "What about you?"

"Yeah..." I said. This kind of thing can happen...

...Actually, it's kind of worrying. I've always had a bit of trouble sleeping, but certainly not when I was THAT tired. Well, here's to hoping this kind of thing doesn't last long...

...

Awkward silences are the worst. We don't really have anything to say, do we? I could remind her about the shopping spree we have to do for the trip, but it would just be redundant; there's no way she forgot about it. And she just woke up; she has nothing to say.

...

...

This is boring.

...I feel at home now.

...

...

It must've been another half-hour—maybe more, I couldn't check my watch with Kieri in the room— before room service came...in the form of a young lady who was probably the innkeeper's daughter. They seemed to have the same hair tone and similar height, though I wasn't all that sure.

'Probably' was the key word in that sentence.

"Good morning." she said, holding two trays breakfast.

"Good morning." I replied.

"I hope you both slept well." she said. "I brought you both your breakfast for today." She smiled. "It's on the house." she added.

...But I'm here...I thought they're only doing that to Kieri...

Or maybe they've decided I also get the special treatment just because _I slept in the same room as her._

And once again, that may be a little too much for it to be true. Sometimes my mind likes to come up with stuff it pretty much knows can never happen. No one's that much like...that; I forgot the words for it.

Unless they are.

Unless they aren't.

Okay, for now, don't be rude, and just say thank you-

Never mind, she already left. Goddamnit.

Anyway... Kieri had gotten out of bed and had put both trays on the bed, next to her. Both trays of breakfast looked a lot like a conventional American breakfast, only...a little excessive. Several eggs, strips of bacon, slices of French toast, waffles, more bacon for some reason, and a large glass of what looked like orange juice. Both trays were identical both in contents and amount.

Jeez, Kieri would be unable to eat half this stuff, with or without her meat allergy.

...

Kieri sighed. It wasn't hard for me to tell that she was upset at the special treatment.

"W-we s-shou-u..." the words died in her mouth. She took at deep breath and tried again. "We should share this with Buwaro and Rhea."

I looked up at her. "Hm?"

"W-well, they keep giving us their things for free, a-and...It just doesn't s-seem fair."

She blushed a little. "A-also...this might be a l-little too much food for just the two of us."

I looked back down at the trays, smirking. "Yeah, I see your point."

I picked them both up, one in each hand. "Well..." I gestured to the door.

Kieri quickly put her shoes on, and opened the door, walking out into the dark hallway, with me close behind.

Well, this is a familiar sight. Or rather, lack of sight; did it get somehow _darker_ since last night?

Kieri looked around, squinting, straining to see which door was which.

"Kieri," I spoke up. "It's this door over here." I gestured to the door in question, the number 2 just barely visible.

She blushed a little at having missed that. I shrugged. "Buwaro and I had the same problem last night."

She walked up to the door and knocked.

No response.

They're still asleep; we just woke Rhea up with the knocking. But she was taking her time getting to the door.

Kieri knocked again, louder this time. There was faint muttering coming from inside the room, and I could hear footsteps. Okay, so she's up. I wonder what she thinks about the whole travelling to find Kazai plan now. She only ever got to hear it from Buwaro.

A loud sneeze suddenly snapped me out of my thoughts, almost making me drop the trays. I caught myself. I realized Kieri was nowhere to be seen...until I glanced down.

The tiny floppy-eared snow bunny was back.

Rhea opened the door, looking up at me. "Good morning, Jamal." she said, rather tired sounding.

"Good morning to you too." I droned, holding the trays on my arms out. "We got you guys breakfast."

"We?"

"Down here." Kieri squeaked. Rhea looked down in surprise.

"Well," she shrugged. "Can't say I'm not grateful for bringing us breakfast! Come on in!"

And having said that, she grabbed Kieri with her tail and went back inside.

"Buwaro! Wake up! Kieri's here!"

Buwaro woke up almost instantly at those words. He immediately threw the covers off of himself, and eagerly plucked Kieri up out of Rhea's tail. "Good morning, Snowy!"

"G-good morning to you too, Buwaro!" Kieri said, her blush noticeable even underneath her fur.

"Wow, the food looks great! The soup we got was kinda overpriced. How much did it cost?"

"A-actually," said Kieri, who was being nuzzled by Buwaro. "It's our breakfast; we got it for free..."

"Wow, it sure pays to be an angel," she turned to me with an odd look. "Or staying in the same room as one."

"Hey, hey." I raised my hands defensively. Rhea just rolled her eyes and chuckled.

"But anyway, if this is your food, why haven't either you eaten any of it?"

"Well," I decided to answer for Kieri here. "It's a big enough serving to share between the four of us; we thought it best to save you the expense of buying breakfast on your own."

"That's nice of you." she commented as she dug in.

We ate mostly in silence. Rhea and Buwaro happily ate a large portion of the servings, while I ate only the eggs, some toast and one of the glasses of juice. As for Kieri, she only ate one piece of toast; then again, considering she was a bunny at the moment, it must've been pretty filling.

And it was adorable watching her nibble on it.

Still a little tired.

"So anyway," I started. "What's the plan for now?"

"Buwaro filled me in on as much as he could." Rhea said. "We're gonna need to go shop for a _lot_ of supplies. Extra clothing, extra food...today's gonna be dedicated to getting the supplies, and we leave tomorrow morning."

"Wait a second," Buwaro piped up, turning to me. "Didn't you say we'd be able to leave later today?"

"Oh yeah..." I rubbed the back of my head. "In hindsight, that might've been a stupid assumption."

In all honesty, I had completely forgotten that the group took a whole day to buy supplies before setting out to Riverside City. If I didn't know any better, I'd say I really _did_ have gaps in my memory.

"First things first, however, we'll need a map. I think there's a bookstore further down the road from here."

"We'll be sure to stop by there after we get dressed." I said.

"Now that you mention it," Rhea suddenly realized. "What's with the getup?"

"The innkeeper gave us spare clothes for the time being. You know, while they wash our other clothing." Actually, come to think of it, why didn't they hand us our clothes earlier?

Kieri chose that particular moment to turn back into an Angel. And upon seeing the gown that she was still wearing, Rhea predictably sniggered. Kieri blushed in response.

"I have to say, uh," Rhea said, trying to hold back her laughter. "Sorta clashes with your hair. You really like blue, huh?"

"I-it's...not a personal choice." Kieri sighed. "As a water elemental, I'm required to wear a blue uniform. My sword was assigned to me...I even had to dye my hair blue..."

"Man, that sucks! But, you're in Medius now; I don't think we have any laws about colour-coding yourself down here..."

This conversation seems awfully familiar... It's surprising how _little_ things have changed so far.

"If you're uncomfortable with it," I said. "You could just stop doing it."

"B-but I-"

"So, Snowy," Buwaro cut her off. "What _is_ your favourite colour?"

"M-m-my favouri- What?"

"It's called being 'friendly'. That's what Buwaro does."

Seriously, it's almost like I didn't do anything. I mean, not that the conversation was sweet and all, but...

"U-uh," Kieri stuttered nervously. "W-well, I l-l-like...uh...m-my favourite..." And then she just said, in the tiniest voice ever. "It's purple."

Rhea, _predictably_ , laughed loudly.

Buwaro, _predictably_ , started going on about his fur. "Really?! _My_ fur is purple! It's all-natural too!"

Kieri, _predictably_ , was left a blushing mess.

It was the familiarity, ironically, that was bothering me. Having heard—or rather read—this conversation before...it was surreal actually being a part of it. Not to mention, all the previous events were slightly so different, and yet...this was playing out the exact same.

"Well, aren't you a lucky girl!"

...Okay, scratch that, Rhea teasing Kieri is bothering me more.

"Okay, would you stop teasing her?" I asked Rhea. "There's nothing wrong with liking purple. It's a really nice colour."

Rhea abruptly started coughing.

...

I rolled my eyes. I decided to move this conversation along a little more. Maybe if I participated more actively, it wouldn't put me off as much...

"So anyway, I've been meaning to ask," I said to Kieri. "Where are your wings? And your pendant?"

"I-I have it here, under my n-nightgown." she said. "I can control whether my wings are out or not."

"That's cool." Buwaro said, waving his own tiny pair of wings around. "I wish I could do that with mine."

"What are those things, anyway?" Rhea said, having recovered from her coughing fit. "The pendants?"

"T-they... they're holy emblems. They're earned through warrior training, and there are three in total; each of them has different effects." She pulled out her sun pendant to show us. "The sun emblem is what bestows us our wings, and it helps calm our hearts..." she pointed at Buwaro's star pendant. "The star gives us halos, and enhances concentration, for better magic control."

Rhea snickered to herself when Kieri said that.

"And the third pendant is a crescent moon. I-I think it's supposed to enhance physical strength. But all the emblems are specifically made for angels. I don't know how Buwaro can use his..."

Rhea thought for a moment. "Hmm... do you think I can't touch your pendant because I'm from Hell?"

"Huh?"

"Back at the lake," Rhea explained. "I tried to pick it up, but it burned my hand when I touched it." She glanced at Buwaro. "Could Buwaro try holding it?"

"Uh, sure." Kieri said, holding her pendant up for Buwaro. He raised his hand to grab it, but the moment it came into contact with his palm, he yelped and jerked his hand back.

"Sorry Buwaro, but I guess that confirms it." Rhea said. "But this isn't fair! I'm out of Hell, and it turns out I'm still damned!"

"Uh..." I started. There were a lot of things I wanted to point out, but for the life of me, I just didn't know where to start.

"Aw, come on, Rhea." Buwaro said. "The Ring wasn't _that_ bad."

"Are you kidding?" Rhea said. "I was stuck there with only you for company, for nine months straight! If—or when—I go back, it'll be too soon."

Huh, so nine months is how long she was dead for.

"I honestly thought I'd go insane." she continued.

"Wait, can dead people go insane?" I asked.

"I was abo-" she cut herself off. "Actually, I guess?" she shrugged. "It's not like I really had anyone else to compare with, aside from Seymour."

"Who's Seymour?" Kieri and I asked simultaneously.

"Oh, I remember him!" Buwaro spoke up. "He was really nice and inspirational but also kind of ugly, too..."

Rhea just shot him a withering look. "Seymour was a daredevil who got sentenced to the ring for apparently 'stealing a lot'. The guy had been dead for decades, and when we found him he was dead set on swimming up the River Styx all the way to Heaven. He _really_ didn't seem sane, at _all_."

Whatever face Kieri was making right now was probably not a good one. I pretended to hide a similar expression.

...

"So..."

"What?"

"I think we should get a move on with the shopping..." I said, maybe a little meeker than I intended.

"Yes, of course." she cleared her throat. "So, again, first things first, we'll need to get a map. I _might've_ lost our old map at the lake or something because I can't find it anymore."

"Well, that's unfortunate." I deadpanned. "Let's just go get dressed already." I stood up, gesturing for Kieri to do the same.

We stepped out of the room, and walked up to our room. I opened the door, and, sure enough, Kieri's uniform and my jacket and pants were there, on one of the beds.

"You go first." I said. "I'll wait outside."

She walked in, and closed the door behind her.

* * *

When Rhea said that she knew her way around, I had been expecting her to find the bookstore within ten minutes. That was nearly half an hour ago.

Farun's not that big, maybe four or five kilometres lengthwise, but it had taken an annoyingly long time to find the bookstore regardless.

Warm air welcomed us as we went inside, and I couldn't help but sigh in relief. I mean, I've been stuck out there for a longer period of time, but...I guess it's just that big a relief to be somewhere warm. Even with my newly washed jacket on...

"Alright," Rhea said. "They should have a map somewhere around here. Hopefully it doesn't cost too much; we might need to save money if we're in this for the long haul." She turned to Kieri. "Would you mind watching Buwaro for me? I don't want him setting fire to anything."

I just split off from the group and walked around, inspecting the bookstore.

It was decently sized, even for such a small town, and it seemed to have a great deal of books in good condition. The books themselves ranged from children's books, to novels, and even a couple of encyclopaedias.

Those might actually come in handy. I'll need as much information about Medius as I can get.

Though I might want to invest in a smaller, cheaper book that's both easier to carry, and won't piss Rhea off as an expensive suggestion.

Let's see here... Anatomy might help in understanding the physiology of other races, but I don't think I desperately need that...Magic could probably work out for me, so I'll keep it in mind...and Alchemy-

Wait, Alchemy. I forgot about Alchemy.

Now _that_ is what I need. Taking what will eventually happen into account, I'd definitely need stuff like the Rainbow Reverie to keep up. It would help a lot if I had better knowledge of the subject should I ever need to make potions myself.

Alchemy it is.

I picked up the book that had caught my eye. It was fairly small compared to the others, about 200 pages long. Judging by its size, title ( _The Illustrated Alchemist Apprentice's Guide_ ), and a quick skim through the first few dozen pages, it was _perfect._

It had detailed, but straightforward descriptions, recipes, and the like; the one thing that felt off was that the illustrations were drawn by a not very steady hand, but they were clear enough for me.

Let's go with this one. Now, to find Rhea and discuss...how I'll justify randomly grabbing an Alchemy book...

Well, first I have to find her. It's difficult when she's less than half my height and completely hidden by the bookshelves.

I walked around, peeking behind each bookshelf to find Rhea, until something caught my eye: a calendar on the wall.

More specifically, the date on the calendar; heck, the month it was on:

March 5th.

That can't be right. Last I remember it was November-

Wait. Last I remember...

I glanced around to make sure no one was looking and snuck a glance at my watch.

One little thing about my watch I hadn't mentioned yet, is that it's one of those watches that shows the date of the month. Right now, the number displayed was a five. And as far as I could tell, the watch itself was keeping track of Farun's local time; the shadows outside indicated it was close to noon, while my watch's hands read 11:35.

...Huh.

I hid my watch in my sleeve again and brushed my hair out of my face.

Did I actually lose some of my actual memories of the past 4 months? I should've already gone back to school by this date! And yet I don't remember anything past the last few weeks of the previous school year!

 _Shit_ , I might've missed something important from the pages that were released in those four mo-!

"Okay, where's Jamal?"

Thank you Rhea, for snapping me out of another freak out.

I followed the sound of her voice, and I quickly found her by a small stand with maps on it. She was holding one of those maps in her hand, and Buwaro and Kieri were both next to her.

"I'm here."

"Good," Rhea said. "'Cause I got ourselves a map right here."

"You were right, Jamal!" Buwaro said. "Snowy's brother definitely went to Riverside, like you said!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Rhea shot back. "But it _is_ the closest one, and the most likely, so that's where we're heading."

"What's it like?" Buwaro asked.

"Well," I started, cutting Rhea's comment off before she even finished opening her mouth. "It's, uh...a lot bigger than Farun. And...it's next to a river."

...

"Yes, I know that that's a little obvious, but even if I had been there before, I don't remember anything about it."

Rhea raised an eyebrow. "Smooth."

"Oh, and also," I said, showing Rhea the book. "Mind if we get this as well?"

"I'm tempted to ask 'why'."

"It just...sort of caught my eye." I defended. "And besides, if this goes on for the 'long haul', the knowledge might come in handy."

She just eyed the book.

And then she shrugged.

"Whatever, I'll allow it." she said, turning around and heading for the counter. "Just so long as it doesn't cost too much; we're trying to save up."

Well, that was awkward.

But at least it worked. I now have something to not only learn crucial information with, but to also entertain myself with during the trip.

* * *

 _Rhea's POV_

Next stop: the grocery store.

At least this one was a little easier to find than the bookstore.

"Okay, so how much food are we gonna need?" I asked myself aloud.

"A little over six meals' worth." Jamal replied. "I did the math. It'd take us at least two days to get to Riverside on foot. We'll have to pack a little extra just in case."

"Got it." I split off from him and walked down the aisle, looking around. I was vaguely aware of Kieri following me.

It was fairly big and well stocked with food, most of which could've been brought in from the outside world. I didn't quite remember it like this, but then again, I didn't visit Farun all that often, and then after I died...

I scratched my chest again. I guess this little itch isn't going to stop any time soon...

I grabbed a bag from a nearby rack, and put a few loaves of bread inside. Then I put some more in just in case. Jamal said a little over six meals' worth...for four people that would be...

Eh, this looks like enough bread.

Now to the vegetable section. As much as I preferred meat over most other foods, I had to admit I kinda missed vegetables as well.

Let's see here, we got broccoli, radishes, cabbages and carro-

I chuckled to myself.

I grabbed a small bunch of carrots and showed them to Kieri. "Want some? These seem perfect for you!"

The look on her face was hilarious to look at! But then Jamal had somehow snuck up on me and...

"That's not funny."

"Wha?"

"Stop teasing her."

"You're no fun."

He just shrugged and left, holding a bag of what I assumed was fruit.

Seriously, it's like every little joke I make just ticks him off!

I put the carrots in my bag and grabbed a few other vegetable to go along. Once I was done, I followed Jamal to the counter. Apparently he'd already gotten the rest of our food.

I propped myself up on my tail to put my bags on the counter. Jamal put his own bags next to mine.

"Jamal?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you keep spoiling my fun?" I glared at him.

"Oh, um...I just think it comes off as insensitive, Rhea." He replied a little nervously. "I mean, I'm fairly certain she dislikes it."

"Well, that's-" I stopped myself. "...I guess you're right. I'll try to stop."

I wondered what exactly came over me there. I mean, yeah, I was being insensitive, but that's the first time I've...actually admitted that...

No wonder I went to Hell.

* * *

 _Kieri's POV_

We decided to eat lunch at a small restaurant not far from the inn. I had already eaten here, so when Rhea suggested having lunch out, I was the one that chose where.

...It's not like there were that many other options...

Thankfully, when we arrived, the place was virtually empty. It meant that Buwaro would be less likely to be caught as he ate, since he had to take his bandana off in order to do so. Speaking of which...

Rhea had been trying to teach Buwaro how to use his fork properly, and neither of them finished their plates yet. Jamal, on the other hand, ordered a smaller plate and had finished a little earlier than I had.

"Okay, I think I got it this time." Clink. "Never mind, I dropped it again."

"Buwaro, come on! It isn't that hard!" Rhea said in annoyance.

"Rhea, did you ever notice that his fingers are mostly claws and can't actually bend?" Jamal added flatly.

"Still!"

"There we go! I got it!"

Buwaro, now successfully holding his fork between his claws, resumed eating his food.

I sipped my glass of water. It was still about half full.

Jamal spoke up after a minute or so. "So, Kieri..."

"What is it, Jamal?"

"About...teaching me magic again?"

"Wait, what?" Rhea asked, looking up from her plate.

"I forgot more than just my memories; I don't remember how to use magic." he told Rhea.

"How does that work?" she asked in disbelief.

"I don't know," he said. "But that's how it is for me..."

He turned back to me.

"Shall we start now?" he asked.

I nodded. I wasn't entirely sure how well I could teach him... if he knew magic before, then it shouldn't be too hard, I suppose.

"I...don't really know where to start. After a while of being able to use it, you...just start taking it for granted...um..."

Why of all times did I have to forget what I was going to say?

Rhea took over. "Well, as someone who can barely use magic to begin with, my recommendation is, uh, just focus on your hands."

"Y-yeah." I continued. "Try to focus and bring out your magic on your own. I-if you could use it before, you s-shouldn't have too much of a problem."

"Okay, I think I get it..." he said. He looked down at his hand; judging by his facial expression he was trying to focus his magic. After a few moments, his hand flashed dimly, and he flinched.

"Oh! I think you got it!" Buwaro said excitedly.

Jamal took a deep breath and tried again. This time, the dim glow appeared almost immediately. He smiled.

"So..." he started. "How do I tell what element my magic-?"

At that moment, his hand suddenly filled up with water, spilling onto his shoe and the ground. He jerked back in his seat, causing the remainder of the water to splash on the ground as well.

"Hah..." he looked at his now wet hand in what might have been bewilderment. He just stared at it for a few seconds. And then a grin started to form. "Well..." he wiped his hand on his leg. "Water magic it is!"

I myself felt the corners of my mouth form a smile. "That's great news!"

"Ooh, ooh!" Buwaro spoke up. "Let me try!"

"No!" Rhea interrupted him. "Fire magic is much more dangerous than that. Remember all those times back in Hell you messed up with your flame breath?"

"And besides," Jamal continued. "None of us, and no one we know and have on hand, for that matter, can use fire magic, so we can't teach you any spells even if you learn to control it properly."

"Oh..."

"At least, no one that's actually good at it..." Rhea pondered. "Anyway, that reminds me, there's one other place we'd have to go to..."

* * *

 _Jake's POV_

It was early afternoon; the shop was empty now except for me. I was left to contemplate the nature of my job here...or rather I was wondering what Snake was up to right now. She failed to show up for the Summer Sun celebration, effectively disappearing for the better part of the year, only to turn up months after the winter solstice to ask for clothing for a human friend who...needed it, for some reason.

Well, whatever forces were at work, they seemed to be paying attention to me, because guess who chose to walk through the door right as I was thinking about her.

"Hey Snake, what's up?" I greeted her. "Nice of you to drop by again. Say, what did your friend think of the clothes I-"

She was followed inside the store by three other people. The one in front was wearing said clothes.

...to be fair, maybe Rhea should've mentioned that the guy was pretty short. Maybe then I wouldn't've given him a coat meant for someone nearly a foot taller than he was.

He was pretty broad-shouldered, however, so that seemed to help. He was also wearing a bandana over his mouth, for some reason. I could just see...red eyes and a white lock of hair poking out from under his hat?

"...oh, Oh wow."

"Hello!" he waved cheerfully. At least he didn't seem to mind the clothes. Going to have to look into his hair and eye colour later, though.

He was followed by a significantly taller guy who looked to be in his late teens. He had medium length, dark hair and dark hazel eyes hidden behind glasses. He wore a purple jacket and dark pants, along with a bored expression on his face.

And then I looked to the side and noticed the sweet little angel walking alongside them.

"Why, hello there!"

"Huh?"

If I hadn't been distracted by her good looks, I would've noticed the tall guy taking his glasses off and facepalming.

"So, did it hurt?"

"E-excuse me?" That was a cute accent she had here.

"When you fell from Heaven?" I probably should've said it as one sentence.

"N-no?" No? Wait a second...

"Damn it, J, would you stop putting the moves on random girls for one second?"

I turned my attention away from the girl and focused on Rhea.

"Putting the- what?" the short guy wandered, apparently not realising what just happened.

"Well, in any case..." Rhea said. "These are my friends: Kieri," she gestured at the young girl, "Jamal," she gestures at the tall guy, "and Buwaro." She gestures to the shorter one wearing the longcoat.

"I'll be leaving town with them tomorrow."

"What?!" She can't be serious! "You just got back! I haven't seen you in a while..."

"Yeah, well...things happen." She shrugged. "I just came here for a favour or two...and to say goodbye."

It didn't feel fair. But I guess it was time to move on...

"Alright. So, what do you need?"

"First things first, Kieri needs a sheath for her sword."

What? "She has a sword?"

"Yeah!" Buwaro said, patting her on the back. "She's really strong!"

Speaking of sheaths...

"No problem. I saw one floating around lately..." I said, and walked into storage. I rummaged around all the spare clothing. Jeez, whoever was in charge of cleaning really needs to realise that they have to organise everything back here...

Okay, found it. I brought it back to the counter with me and handed it to Rhea. "It was sold to us a couple days ago. Looks pretty fancy."

As Rhea payed up, the girl, Carrie I think her name was, took the sheath in her hands in surprise.

"Th-this is mine! I thought I lost it when..." she stuttered a little.

Wait, the sheath had been hers the whole time?

Snake and Buwaro were elated to see things work out for her, but Jamal...I thought I saw his expression darken...either that or it just stayed the same, probably doesn't care that much.

"Also, can I have your mail address?" Rhea asked me. "Just because I'm leaving again doesn't mean I'm not keeping in touch with you this time."

"You got it." I pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down my address. "Just be sure to tell me which city you're heading to whenever you write."

She nodded. I folded the paper and handed it to her.

I looked up at her friends. "Hope you have some fun with your-" Buwaro had just piled a bunch of really garish clothes on Carrie. And Jamal had somehow teleported to the far side of the room.

"Well, seems like you have your hands full, huh?"

She sighed. "Yup."

"May I ask," I said. "Why are you travelling with them, again?"

"Well, Kieri got separated from her brother a few days ago, so we're helping her look for him. I've known her of all of two days, but she's a really nice kid."

"Oh. What about Buwaro and Jamal?"

"I met Buwaro a while back. I made a promise to his older sister that I'd take care of him for her. As for Jamal, we sort of stumbled upon him not long after meeting Kieri. He's an amnesiac and pretty distant to boot; even if he means well, it's hard to tell."

"Oh hey, that rhymed." I chuckled. She just rolled her eyes. And speak of the devil, Jamal walked over to the counter, holding a black shirt and a scarf.

"Don't mind me, just gonna buy something to stay warm." He said, putting both items on the counter.

"I said we're trying to save up here." She grunted at him.

"And I say I don't want to freeze to death out there." He shot back calmly.

"Also, I was in the middle of a moment here!"

I grinned. "Seems like you found someone to keep up the banter with, huh?"

"Shut it, J."

She handed me the money for the shirt and scarf.

"But hey, look on the bright side," I said, intending to reassure her. "Didn't you always say you wanted to explore Fragaria one day? Take it as your chance!"

"Yeah, you're right..." she climbed onto the table and hugged me. "I'm gonna miss you, J. Try not to set anything on fire."

I smiled at her and patted her on the back. "No promises, Snake. Good luck."

* * *

 _Buwaro's POV_

After getting a sheath for Snowy's sword, Jamal and Rhea started having a discussion on whether or not to buy "sleeping bags" for the trip, whatever those were. My best guess were bags you could sleep in...I imagine they'd be large.

"The map says there's a rest stop at the halfway point. We should be able to reach it by nightfall." I heard Rhea argue.

"We can't guarantee that for sure." Jamal countered. "And besides, you yourself said that that's an older map."

I noticed Snowy glancing around, out of the corner of my eye.

"What's wrong, Snowy?" I asked her.

"Oh, um," she stuttered, her face slowly turning red again. I wondered why she kept doing that. "It's just...Rhea saying goodbye to her friend...it reminds me, I have someone to say goodbye too as well."

"Really?"

"Yes. They're a friend I made when I first arrived."

Snowy has more friends down here?

"Why don't you ask them to come along?" I suggested immediately.

She looked surprised. Maybe she hadn't thought of that? We could bring whoever it was along too!

"Well...we are almost done with buying supplies for all of us...but I-I don't think we have enough for one more person..."

"Come on, Snowy," I replied. "It'll be fine! Go on!"

She looked nervous, but then she smiled and nodded. She walked to a nearby building and went inside.

I wonder how this friend of hers is like.

"Okay, fine, we'll take sleeping bags." Rhea groaned after a few minutes. "But we need to figure out how to make more money; I still have a great deal, but not enough to carry us past Riverside if we need to go that far."

"Well, that's fair." Jamal answered. "Buwaro, Kieri, we're gonna make one last stop before we go back to the inn." He turned to me. "Wait, where's Kieri?"

"She went to-"

At that moment Snowy walked back into view.

"Oh, hey! How did it go?" I asked her.

"...they weren't there." she sighed. She looked upset.

"What?"

"Who are you talking about?" Jamal asked her.

"A friend I made here." she said. "They left three days ago to who knows where."

...

Rhea broke the silence.

"So..." she started. "We...should go buy those sleeping bags?"

"Yes, yes, of course." Jamal said quickly. "Come on, guys. Let's go."

* * *

 _My POV_

The four of us had an early start next morning. He woke up sometime before sunrise, had breakfast, each took a shower (except for Buwaro, both because he couldn't risk being seen in the _public_ showers and because he hated water) and took a last minute bathroom break before exiting the inn fully dressed and ready for travel.

Or at least, Kieri and I were ready. It took Buwaro a little longer to do his...business. And Rhea needed to help him actually do it. It makes sense when you think about it; a lifetime of never having to eat, and therefore...expel anything was gonna bite him sooner or later now that he's on Medius. It's also pretty clear that Kieri, Kazai and Sanjulo had to go through a similar ordeal.

The innkeeper had given Kieri a thick, forest green jacket, what looked to be a thermos, and a generous amount of money. Her sword was sheathed on her belt. I had put on the black long-sleeved shirt I bought from Jake's shop over my T-shirt and under my jacket, and wrapped the scarf around my neck and partially over my mouth.

Just my luck it was pink. On the plus side, it was a dark shade of pink. Really compliments the jacket.

Kieri had a satchel with our food supply inside, along with her purse. I was left to carry the sleeping bags and—at my insistence—the map. Rhea was in charge of all the things she managed to get from her house, and Buwaro only had Thadius to worry about.

And my mind kept drifting to that "friend" Kieri had who had never been mentioned in the comi-.

"Okay, we're ready." Rhea said as she stepped out of the inn, with the disguised Buwaro in tow.

"Took you guys long enough." I said. "And don't bother replying, I feel like I don't want to hear it."

"You're right you don't wanna hear it, Jamal." She groaned. It was hard to tell under his bandana, but it seems like he found it just as unpleasant as Rhea did.

"Well then." I shrugged. "We good to go?"

"Yeah, everything's packed on our end." Rhea said. "And it seems you two are ready as well."

"Y-yeah..." Kieri said. "The innkeeper gave us a g-generous amount of money for the trip. You should take it." She showed Rhea the small purse.

"What, why? It's _your_ money!"

"It's best if you take it, Rhea. I have very little experience handling money, you know how best to use it."

"She has a point." I said.

Rhea sighed. "Okay, fine..."

"...it feels...disingenuous." Kieri muttered.

"Hm?" I glanced at her.

"N-nothing." She looked away.

I knew for a fact what she thought was disingenuous. But even if she could've shrugged off the questions, the look on her face spoke volumes.

Rhea immediately picked up on it. "Doesn't sound like nothing."

"The innkeeper was only nice to me because I'm an angel." Kieri blurted out. "I...I hate that..."

I looked down. I didn't really know how to comfort her for this one. However, Buwaro wasn't gonna just stand by and not comfort her. He stepped forward, throwing Thadius out of his hands as he did.

I didn't even focus on what he was saying to Kieri. All I could thing about as I watched Thadius soar up into the air was that he had a nice arm. And those thoughts went from surprise to panic as Thadius started coming back down

I grabbed Buwaro by the shoulders and yanked him out of the way as Thadius landed on the ground with an unsettlingly loud thud.

"Jeez, watch where you throw that thing!"

"Huh, it's been a while since he's done that." Rhea muttered.

"Wait, does this happen often?" Kieri asked, clearly worried.

"...more often than I'd like to admit, Snowy." Buwaro groaned, slumping.

I stood him back up. "Let's just go already, guys. The faster we make progress, the better off we'll be."

I picked Thadius up off the ground, and handed it- I mean _her_ to Buwaro. That thing was pretty heavy; to me it feels like it could crack a normal person's skull open or something.

Best make sure to stay safe around Thadius. Or teach Buwaro how to aim a little better when he throws her around.

* * *

 **A/N: And so the journey finally begins. Will things stay on track, or will they go off the rails? And who is that mysterious friend Kieri mentioned she had?**

 **InvictusValeyard: Well, only time will really tell if anything happens between the two.**

 **Guest: Jamal isn't really the type to tell stories, much less scary ones, especially since he doesn't know any well enough to tell, not taking into account possible slip-ups regarding technology or locations.**


	9. Chapter IX

**A/N: Here's chapter nine of our story. The trio, or rather quartet, is now on their way to Riverside City. And there're a couple new things to find, it seems. Happy 2018, everyone!**

* * *

 _Rhea's POV_

I had to say, the landscape was gorgeous out here. We walked through a forest of pine trees, each and every single one coated in snow. The ground beneath us was covered by inches of snow; only a few boulders and patches of grass dotting the area gave any indication of what was underneath. At least the well-worn dusty path was still clear.

The sky was bright and sunny, without clouds to disturb the light, giving a clear view of the mountain range the path was leading to. The air was crisp and thin. The Sun, no longer blocked by trees—as they had been cleared from the path for the most part—or clouds, was doing wonders to warm me up. I was never a winter person, even with a proper winter coat, but I found myself enjoying it as we trekked. The only things that didn't really do it for me was the cold in my bare feet, the length of the trek, and...

"Are we there yet?"

"Buwaro, we've gone over this." Jamal deadpanned. "The trip to Riverside'll take two days. It hasn't even been two hours."

...the fact that Buwaro _wouldn't just shut up._

"Buwaro, just shut up and be patient." I snapped. "This is as fast as we can go. Unless you have a wagon we can use, or could fly."

Buwaro suddenly stopped walking. And then he turned to Kieri.

"Snowy, you can fly! You've got wings-" he seemed to stutter; apparently, he just remembered that he couldn't fly with his own pair. "Big, pretty ones!"

Kieri blushed a little at the compliment. "O-oh, thank you, Buwaro." She said. "But, well I suppose I could make the trip within the day, but I'd be leaving the three of you behind, so..."

"Oh..."

"Yeah..." Jamal shrugged.

"I-I promise, I wouldn't abandon you guys like that!" Kieri reassured us.

"Well, yeah, since you're the one with all our food and all..." I said. Not to mention the fact that Jamal was the one who had the map, and I had all the cash. We were all dependent on each other.

"Come on," I started. "The sun isn't exactly waiting for us...?" Why the hell did a bubble just float past me?

I looked in the direction it came from to see Jamal, holding his hands up to his face. "What are you doing?" I asked him.

"Practicing." He said. He formed a hole in between his thumbs and index fingers and blew through it, and another bubble came into existence, floating away in the slow wind.

"Oh, alright then." I shrugged. "Guess _that's_ paying off for now."

I looked at the mountain range in the distance. Boy, was that going to be fun to walk through.

"In any case..." I looked back at the three of them. "Let's hurry it up already."

* * *

 _My POV_

The air was thinning; I could feel it easily, how it seemed to almost dry up around me. It was weird, but familiar in a way. And so was the complaining.

"I feel dizzy." Buwaro.

"It's gettin' a little hard to breathe, here." Rhea.

Kieri wasn't saying anything, but she was breathing a little louder than usual.

I, on the other hand, didn't mind nearly as much. These mountains were tall, but I doubted they were that far above sea level, maybe three thousands metres and not much more. That is to say, I've gone higher before, without being affected by the thin air.

"Everything okay over there?" I asked

"I guess?" Rhea shrugged. "I've never been this high up before, I wasn't really prepared."

"Why do I feel so dizzy?" Buwaro asked.

"In layman's terms, there's less air the higher you go." I told him. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it in... maybe an hour or two."

I glanced down at the shadows on the ground; they were small. I turned to face a nearby mountaintop, putting my back to the group, and crossed my arms, slowly pulling my sleeve back to sneak a glance at my watch. 1:47 pm. I hid it under my sleeve again.

"Speaking of which, we should probably find a place to have lunch soon." I stated.

"Like what?" Kieri piped up.

"I don't know, a rock, a tree?" I shrugged. "At least something comfortably far from the edge."

"How long until we get down from here?" Buwaro groaned.

I looked down at the map. "All you need to know is that we're not halfway yet. The fact that the path has to wind around the mountains will slow us down."

"What?! Why?!"

"Because," I said, putting the map away and starting to walk again. "We can't exactly walk _straight through_ the range. There's lots of cliffs and unstable terrain." I gestured to the path ahead. "This is as safe as it gets up here."

"You seem to know a lot about this..." Rhea started.

"Well, I imagine I used to _read_ a lot." I shrugged again, hiding my initial panic at her "realisation". In truth, I lived around hills and mountains, so I was familiar with it. "I didn't lose _all_ my knowledge..." I stopped and looked around. "I assume it's watching all this with my own eyes that is reminding me of little bits and pieces of what I knew." I looked down at my hands. "That might be why I'm picking magic back up so easily..." I muttered.

That was a pretty big lie, for obvious reasons, or at least to me.

Kieri had taught me the basics of magic. It was a matter of focusing it in a certain form, along with projecting a certain amount, which had a noticeable effect on stamina. Once I learned how to project it in the first place, however, it wasn't particularly challenging to get the hang of it, at least not at first, given that I only knew how to make bubbles at the moment.

It felt surprisingly natural, like flexing my fingers or turning my head. It also felt nice to project it, and I found it easy to focus once I could recognise the feeling properly. When I first summoned up that small amount of water in my hand, back at Farun, it really was as simple as willing water to spurt out of it. This isn't to say I wouldn't have trouble with any more complex spells, including anything ice-related...

I genuinely wanted to learn magic, both because it was useful and because it was fascinating. I had to count myself lucky that I _did_ have access to it, both because it meant I could defend myself with it and because it keeps me under the radar.

Though I did have to wonder, why _could_ I use magic? Would that answer even matter in the end?

* * *

 _Kieri's POV_

It was late afternoon when we finally descended to the foothills again, crossing the mountain range. There were trees and piles of rubble everywhere around us as we walked down the path, still winding around the elevated terrain.

I was taking the time to continue teaching Jamal some simple water spells—well, it's not really teaching, more like reminding him how to do it—as we continued down the path.

"Okay, so I focus it like...this!"

Jamal pointed a finger at a nearby rock and shot a small jet of water out at it. However, it failed to reach the rock before splashing on the ground. He sighed and looked at his hand.

"Sorry," I apologised. "That spell usually only works at a range of 5 metres."

"It's fine." He replied. "At least I'm getting the hang of it." He seemed to be smirking as he said that. He pointed his finger at another, much closer rock, and shot another jet of water at it, this time hitting it and causing it to splash by us.

He turned to smile at me, and then continued down the path.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't glad to have everyone's company. Glad that all three of them had volunteered to help me find Kazai. I knew I wouldn't be able to do it all on my own.

It also...felt nice to teach Jamal water magic. He was doing a great job so far at picking it up again, I could teach him another spell by tomorrow, too...He was pretty distant in general, but as I taught him more and more, the warmer he got. The more he seemed to grin, the more he thanked me for my help.

I wonder if he knows how to sing...

Wait, what?

He has a pretty low voice...

Not the time. Focus on the road, or you might get left behind again.

I sighed to myself, speeding up my pace a little to catch up to the group. I know they'd never leave me behind, but I couldn't help feeling...

We finally reached a fork in the road. One continued straight, through the foothills, while the other dipped down to our right, leading directly towards the forest below.

"Okay, the left path's the one that leads to Riverside." Jamal said, looking down at the map briefly.

"Then there's no time to waste." Rhea replied. "Let's go, people!" She started marching down the path, with Jamal in tow. I started to follow them as well, but I noticed that Buwaro wasn't coming with us. I turned around to see what he was doing; he had stopped by a pile of boulders and was holding his pet rock Thadius out.

"Buwaro?"

"Huh, what?" He looked up at me. "What is it, Snowy?"

"Aren't you going to come with us?"

"Oh, sorry." He rubbed the back of his head as he stepped back on the road.

"I-it's fine," I replied. "But, we should hurry, it's starting to get late."

"Okay, Snowy!" He smiled widely as he said that, and then carried on down the road. He was really friendly and upbeat. I'd been surprised to meet anyone like him at any point, but the fact that he was a demon was...surprising in and of itself.

I'll admit, there may be a few things that Heaven may have missed...but it was easy to look past his race and see him as just a really warm and genuine person. I honestly felt silly for being afraid of him at first.

I watched him stroll down the road without a care in the world. I could feel myself smiling a little as I followed him.

* * *

 _Buwaro's POV_

We've been walking for a _pretty_ long while now. I couldn't see any more spots of sunlight on the ground; the shadows were covering everything. I looked up through the trees to try and spot the sun. I instead saw something different.

"The sky's changing colour again!" I announced.

I loved seeing it do this, and according to Rhea, Snowy and Jamal, this happened every day.

I saw Rhea look up as well. "You're right, it's getting late." She said, scratching her chest again. "How far are we from the rest stop, Jamal?"

Jamal glanced down at the map he had in his hand. "We should be close, less than a kilometre at most."

"Alright." Rhea sighed. "Anything to get away from the cold..."

I agree. I could feel the cold even through two coats and a pair of boots. Can't believe how I went without them a few days back.

But Jamal was right all along. The "rest stop" had been around the next corner, hidden behind a thick patch of snow-covered trees. It was...how would Rhea say...horribly underwhelming. It was a one-story building that looked to be in far worse condition than any of the buildings I'd seen in Farun, or Rhea's village.

Actually, it reminded me of that one tree we passed a few hours ago that was on its side and falling apart. Jamal said it was "rotting".

"Well then," Jamal shrugged. "This is our home for the night."

"Are you kidding me?!" Rhea groaned. "Place looks like it's been abandoned for years!"

"It's better than just sleeping outside..." Snowy muttered.

"I told you sleeping bags would come in handy." Jamal replied flatly to Rhea. "Come on."

The four of us walked in to look around the place. Some of the boards in the walls were missing, or broken, or covered in some kind of green thing I would later learn is called moss. There was a large room filled with tables. Through a door, there was another room filled with beds, most of which were missing a lot of stuff; they were practically skeletons, and falling apart, and Rhea deemed them unusable. There were a couple smaller rooms that seemed empty, but looked like they used to have something in them.

It was pretty dark inside; after some time, I had to make my eyes glow again. I followed Jamal to one of the empty rooms. He looked up at the ceiling, so I did the same. Turns out there was a huge hole where sunlight...wait, no it's not as bright.

"Rhea, what do you think?" Jamal said quietly.

"Well...we could build a fire here." She suggested. "The floor is just dirt, and the hole in the roof can let the smoke out. Besides," She pointed at a small black pile on the ground, directly underneath the light. "Someone else tried it."

Jamal looked pretty surprised, and remained quiet.

"Come on, let's go get some wood." She put our things down and walked out of the room, and I followed her. Snowy and Jamal stayed in the room.

Rhea and I went around the building, looking for loose boards that we could use for firewood. She explained to me what we needed to make a fire; as in, we needed a decent pile of wood for me to light.

At first, I tried removing the boards from the wall itself, but Rhea stopped me.

"Don't. The building is barely standing as it is. I don't want to risk it collapsing with us inside it."

"Oh..." I winced.

"Whatever. We can still use the chairs." She said, walking over to one and picking it up, before slamming it down hard on the ground, causing it to break.

After some time, we had amassed two small piles of wood from the smashed chairs. As we worked, Rhea seemed to notice something close by the door.

"What is it, Rhea?" I asked her.

"Nothing, just..." She slid her foot forwards, and there was a quiet clattering sound. "We're not the first people to try making firewood like this, here." She pointed over to another side of the room, which was also missing some chairs.

Eventually, we lugged back the large amount of wood we got from the chairs to the room Snowy and Jamal were in. All the sleeping bags were on the ground, next to each other; I think Jamal put them there. And Snowy—wait, where's Snowy?

"Alright, I got our sleeping bags and food set up." Jamal said.

"Where did Snowy go?" I asked him.

"She's praying." He replied, gesturing to the far side of the room.

I turned to look. She was kneeling on the ground, facing the wall, in front of...a stone...I don't know what it's called, but it was made of stone and it looked a great deal like Snowy, only with different hair and clothing. It also had a lot of cracks and was missing a hand.

"What's that? Why is she-?"

"Be quiet and let her finish." Rhea said, dumping the wood she was carrying on the ground. I did the same, and the two of us, plus Jamal, arranged it into a neat pile. Once we were done, I took off my hat, gloves and overcoat, giving them to Jamal, and set the wooden pile alight with my flame breath, letting my eyes rest a little from having to glow. Jamal set the hat and overcoat beside him, and took off his own gloves and his scarf, leaving it there as well.

A few minutes later, Snowy got up and walked back to where we were, smiling.

"I'm finished. Thank you all for waiting for me." She said.

"Yay! Let's have dinner!" I cheered. I pulled out a...loaf of bread, out of her bag and handed it to her, as she sat down between me and Jamal. Now we were all in a circle around the fire.

"So, why were you praying, and what's that?" I asked, pointing at the stone angel.

"That's a statue of Gaia." Jamal answered first. He ended up gesturing to Snowy awkwardly to continue the answer.

"I-I prayed to Mother Gaia for my brother's safety, and all of ours...and I told her how thankful I was for having met all three of you." She said.

Mother?

"Heh, that's odd..." Rhea said, taking a bite out of some...cheese, I think it was called. "You're praying to Gaia for a damned soul and a demon and..."

"J-just a random guy at the wrong place at the right time, I guess..." Jamal muttered.

"Why would that be weird?" I asked her. She knew the answer for sure. "Does Gaia not like us?"

"Well..." She looked down as she spoke. "Gaia is the creator of Heaven and angels like myself...but we're the sworn enemies of Syndel, who created Hell and demons...such as you. O-of course, I do not hate you, but...this rivalry has existed for centuries; it's why the Great War lasted so long..."

"That's quite a grudge to hold." Rhea noted. "The war ended a longass time ago..."

"Actually, the war supposedly ended just before my brother and I were born."

Rhea dropped the cheese she was eating, clearly looking shocked. "Wait, what?! How old even _are_ you?!" She stood up suddenly. It actually looked pretty funny, though I was just as confused as she was, and I bet Jamal was as well. "Do angels age differently? Are you three hundred years old give or take?!"

"What?! N-no, I'm only fifteen!"

"Sure, whatever you say..."

"You're just mad that you still have to act as the eldest one of us." Jamal shrugged.

"Please, no I'm no- wait, how old are _you?_ " Rhea looked at him in milder confusion.

"Kieri, when's your birthday?" He asked Snowy.

"Um..." She said, blushing a little. "Well...angels don't use the same calendar as Medius does, and I'm not very good at converting between them...but if I'm not too far off, my birthday is around...late April, or early May?"

"That actually makes you a month or two older than me."

It was Snowy's turn to look shocked. "Wait, what?!"

"Yeah," He replied. "My birthday is in June, I believe, sometime before the Summer Sun celebration."

That was weird. He was so much bigger than Snowy, and his voice was a lot lower than most I've heard, and he was younger than her?

She stood up, and so did he. Wow...he was almost a head taller than her. He's big, but nowhere near as big as Sakido...or Iratu...or that Azurai guy Rhea and I met that one time. But yeah, still way taller than Snowy, and Rhea and I.

"Huh...I thought you were t-twenty..." She sat down again. Jamal just sat down again, quietly.

"Yeah, what the hell were they feeding you, kid?" Rhea asked.

"How should I know?" He replied. "I guess I just got lucky."

"That's cool!" I gave him a thumbs-up. He smiled a little at that, but then he seemed to drop it and look down at the fire.

"So...who do think came before us?" He asked.

"How should _we_ know?" Rhea said. "I guess the only thing we can say about it is that it's pretty recent."

"How can you be sure, Rhea?" I asked her.

"Wind could've come through at any time, there're patches of snow in here." She pointed at a small wet puddle nearby, surrounded by said patches of snow. "If it was too long ago, we wouldn't've seen it."

"Hmm..." Jamal seemed pretty deep in thought at that for whatever reason.

"Do you think it could've been Snowy's brother?" I asked him.

Snowy's face seemed to light up slightly. "I-it could be..." She said, looking down at the fire.

"Maybe, but maybe not." Rhea shrugged, picking up her cheese and trying to brush the dirt off of it.

* * *

 _My POV_

The view of the night sky was breathtaking. Far away from city lights, the sky was full of stars. I only ever saw a night this starry once, when I had gone on a trip specifically to see it. But even that paled, both figuratively and literally, in comparison to Medius' moons.

It was, for all intents and purposes, an alien sky; two moons right beside each other, one green, and the other red. They were both the same size as Earth's moon, and they seemed to be waning. Their surfaces also appeared similar to Earth's moon, though the marks were obviously different, even between them.

It was...hard to describe, to see these two celestial bodies when there should only be one, watching from just outside the rest stop, near the road. On one hand it was amazing and something I'd've probably dreamed of. But on the other...it's a reminder that I'm not on Earth, that I'm God knows where, relative to it...

It was _stressful_. I've only been here for three days, and I'm already feeling...sick...

"Jamal? You okay there?"

I started slightly at the voice, turning around. It was just Rhea, standing at the doorway.

"Uh, yeah, why?"

"Just seemed sort of out of place to see you outside right now." Rhea replied to me. "I thought you couldn't stand the cold?"

"I'm fine, Rhea. It's not like I'm sleeping here." I looked up again. "I just wanted to see the moons."

She looked up as well, at the moons. "Wow, yeah..." She noted. "It's been so long since I've actually seen them. Hell didn't have a sky...it was like one giant cave."

"Hm..." I continued watching the moons, the chill of the night air slowly starting to get to me. I'd neglected to put my scarf back on when I walked out here. Damn you, hindsight.

"It's getting late." Rhea muttered. "Let's call it a night and go to sleep already."

"Yeah..."

I heard her turn around and head back inside. I stood there for a few more seconds before following her into the building. I rubbed my hands to try and get rid of the cold. Can't believe I forgot my gloves as well.

I walked back into the room with Rhea. Buwaro and Kieri were both in their sleeping bags; Buwaro was on the one to my far right, and Kieri was right next to him. The fire was already out; dirt had been kicked over where it had once been, and there was a small puddle, too.

The food had been nice. It had been Rhea's idea to roast marshmallows over the fire; it made for a pretty nice new experience, honestly. We also roasted sausages, though that was a little tricker, and of course, Kieri had stuck to just the marshmallows the whole time.

At least it was a good time for conversation...I'm still wondering...who did that other fire belong to? Rhea said it was fairly recent too...no mention of it existed in the comic, so either it was just an overlooked detail, or something had changed.

The only people that had come to mind were Kazai and Sanjulo, and it was doubtful that they'd've tried that; they could've simply flown all the way to Riverside, the trip wouldn't have taken them more than a day. If it really was them, then what could've happened to delay their journey?

Regardless of what happened, I could mull over it when I was already in my sleeping bag. I took off my glasses, my jacket and my shoes, carefully hiding my watch under my shirt sleeve, before slipping into the sleeping bag between Rhea and Kieri. Nice and warm now.

"Goodnight everyone..."

"Night!"

"Goodnight..."

"G'night, guys!"

* * *

 _Rhea's POV_

I woke to the sun in my eyes through a nearby window. I sat up, shielding my eyes from it. Damn it, I wish I could be allowed to sleep in...

I glanced to the side. Buwaro and Kieri were both still asleep, but Jamal was missing. He must be already up; I could see footprints heading out the room.

Welp. Time to wake up and have breakfast. I got out of my sleeping bag, took a deep breath and...

"Rise and shine, you two!"

Kieri started in her sleeping bag, poofing into a bunny once again. Buwaro yelped and accidentally stabbed his hand through his own sleeping bag.

That could've gone better.

"Heh, sorry about that." I rubbed the back of my head, reaching back to tie my ponytail again. "Anyway, let's eat breakfast already. We still have a ways to go to reach Riverside City."

Buwaro struggled to remove himself from his sleeping bag, but once he did—with a couple additional holes made—he picked up Kieri and immediately gave her a hug and a nuzzle. I'll admit, that was pretty cute.

"Wait, where did Jamal go?" Kieri asked, noticing his absence.

"Hell if I know." I shrugged. "I think he's an early riser. Must've already eaten breakfast, let me check..." I walked over to the bag and the small pile of clothing. His glasses, jacket and shoes were missing, along with his scarf and gloves, and the bag was open.

I looked inside to see what he had eaten. I was expecting to be missing a few fruits, vegetable, or have an empty bottle of water. Instead, the only change was part of said bottle of water was gone, and half a loaf was missing.

I thought humans needed to eat more than that; this wouldn't even be considered filling for a Jakkai...

"Yeah, he ate..." I grabbed the bag and carried it over to them. "So we should, too."

It was a pretty quiet breakfast all things considered. Buwaro eventually had to let Kieri go so she could eat properly, too. We all got dressed, Kieri gave her prayers to Gaia, and we set off...to find Jamal pacing around the cafeteria, muttering to himself about something.

"There you are!" I called out to him.

"Oh, hi." He waved at us awkwardly. "So, we're going out now?"

"Have you been waiting for us the entire time?" Kieri, now back to being an angel, asked him.

"I woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep." He replied. "So I had breakfast and waited."

"Well, you must've had some pretty shitty breakfast..." I said, handing him the remaining piece of bread. "You'll need to be fed for the next stretch of the trip."

He just took the bread and nodded. "Alright, then let's go."

* * *

 _My POV_

I had been expecting the bandits.

As it were, they were a short walk away from the decommissioned rest stop. While I didn't quite remember their faces from the comic, I could still recognise them from a mile away. They were armed, and dangerous.

Unlike originally, I was the one to warn the group.

"Guys...there's people up ahead." I said, gesturing to the small figures in the distance. "Buwaro, put your bandana back on." He nodded and pulled it back over his face.

"Travellers?" Kieri asked.

"I don't know...they don't look too friendly..." Rhea muttered.

"Well, regardless..." I watched as they started walking towards us. "They saw us..." I pulled my scarf over my mouth and nose, and my jacket's hood over my head. Buwaro put himself behind Kieri.

The two bandits approached. They actually looked pretty intimidating, given that they both had visible scars. While they were still shorter than I was, they were far more well-built; they looked like they could probably punch hard enough to break someone's jaw.

Wait, shouldn't one of them have an axe...?

"Alright, all of you have something we want, so hand 'em all over!" The dark skinned one, with the mohawk, growled.

Oh fuck, I don't think they were this aggressive, either!

"Oh shit, bandits!" Rhea shouted.

"You have nowhere to hide out here!" The beared one shouted, pulling out a shortsword he had on his back, before charging at us. I don't remember this part at all!

I saw Kieri, out of the corner of my eye, act quickly. She immediately drew her own sword and stepped forwards to block the man's sword strike, before forcing him back with a swing of her own. She quickly pulled her green jacket off to allow her wings to spread freely from her back.

I was baffled by the bandits' sudden bout of aggression, but I was outright shocked when the beared guy dropped his sword and then _both of them_ dropped to the ground and started _begging._

In hindsight, this second thing shouldn't have shocked me that much; at least at first...then again, what came next definitely justified the shock.

"Shit! Another angel!"

"Please don't kill us!"

...yeah, also that.

Kieri lowered her sword, more than likely taken aback by the sudden and unexpected reaction to her angelhood. She actually took a nervous step back when they did this.

"Um...what's happe-?"

"Leave us alone!" The one with the mohawk shouted, dragging himself backwards. However, Rhea ran over to stand in his way. Seeing this, I followed her example, and so did Buwaro. Now, the bandits were surrounded. Even if only one of us was an actual threat, it was one threat that made these assholes not want to risk doing anything.

"Oh crap, we're done for this time..." The mohawk guy said.

"I don't know, m-maybe she's going to be more lenient than those two!" The bearded one replied.

Wait.

"'Those two'?!" I shouted at them. "Explain now!"

Kieri, Buwaro and Rhea all seemed to realise what was happening. Kieri, most noticeably, was slowly approaching the two bandits. Which, incidentally, helped to keep them compliant.

The bearded one stuttered before answering. "There were two other angels! They passed through here a couple days ago!" He stopped to take a shaky breath, and then continued. "We tried to rob them and their friend, but they almost tore us apart! We only made it out alive because their friend stopped them!"

 _Friend?!_

Kieri's face looked halfway between happy and disturbed. "What did those two angels look like...?"

"One was blue like you, and the other was red..." The bearded bandit said, before his expression changed suddenly. "Wait a minute...the blue one mentioned a sister...are you-?"

Kieri remained silent, but I saw her nod slowly. I glanced back at the bandits; I couldn't tell if they were calming down or just getting more scared upon realising that she was related to someone who nearly killed them.

Granted, they could be exaggerating, but if it's keeping them from attacking us...

"Well..." Rhea stated. "At least we now know for sure he came this way!"

"Yeah, we've got this!" Buwaro cheered. "Let's go, Snowy, we have no time to waste!" He turned around and started sprinting down the path.

"Buwaro, wait up!" Rhea ran after him in annoyance.

I looked down at the bandits again. "Well, we would prefer if the two of you _not_ follow us, if for some odd reason you want to." I gestured to Kieri. "Let's go, we're closer than before."

"A-alright..." She nodded, picking up her jacket from the ground and going after Buwaro and Rhea, not even bothering to sheath her sword.

I turned back to the bandits. "And know this," I pulled my scarf down to reveal an ominous grin behind it; I couldn't help myself, I wanted to scare them a little more. "This is the second time that the two of you were saved from doom by bystanders. Only this time, for a different reason..."

They glanced at each other like they weren't sure how to react. On one hand, I could be bullshitting them, but on the other, I towered over them and had a deep enough voice to sound intimidating.

...okay, that came out a little too egotistical, dial it back a bit...

"Let's just say angels aren't the only beings to make their way here..." I said darkly, and turned around to follow the group down the path.

It took me a couple minutes to sprint back up to them. They had already slowed to a walking pace when I reached them, however; maybe that's why it didn't take that long.

"So," I started. "We're on the right track, then?"

"Yeah!" Buwaro replied, noticeably out of breath.

"We might make it there by sunset if we're lucky." Rhea added.

Kieri nodded excitedly. It was actually really nice to see her act like this, knowing that she was on the right track to finding Kazai. "Let's not waste time, like Buwaro said." I can't believe we could find this solid a lead...I also can't believe Arin would tag along with them..."

I narrowed my eyes as I put two and two together. Arin...friend...the person she wanted to say goodbye to before we left? At least we know where he went...but...I need to know more.

"Actually...I have a question." I said, turning to Kieri. "Just who is Arin?"

* * *

 **A/N: Side note, I wasn't really expecting Arin to be revealed this early. But answers are to be had, and Jamal certainly wants answers to his questions about this previously unheard of person. We'll find out next chapter, shall we?**

 **Ronmr: Thank you for reading this story. As for the insight, there're a lot of things you can pick out when you're looking from a certain perspective. Things like this are usually left out for a reason.**

 **Guest: Merry (belated) Christmas and (also belated) Happy New Year to you too.**

 **See you all next time.**


	10. Chapter X

**A/N: We finally made it to Chapter 10 of this story. To recap, Jamal is starting to find all sorts of changes in what he's been expecting to see. Some of which he may not have had a hand in...**

* * *

 _My POV_

"Just who is Arin?"

Kieri looked at me, and then glanced at Buwaro and Rhea.

"Yeah, you know who else is travelling with your brother?" Rhea said.

"Please, we really want to know." Buwaro said, pulling his bandana down and giving her puppy dog eyes.

You know, it's funny how a literal demon with blood red eyes can pull off the look genuinely. It was also this look that made Kieri concede, if she wasn't going to tell us already. She nodded and spoke. "Alright...

"Arin is a human I met roughly two weeks after Kazai, Sanjulo and I were dragged down to Medius. They had only been in Farun for four days before I ran into them in a small artisan shop..."

"I remember!" Buwaro piped up. "You went to that shop to say goodbye."

"Well, yes," She sighed. "They were one of the few Medians I could talk to that didn't immediately treat me like...r-royalty, because I'm an angel." She looked up. "In fact, they didn't seem to even realise I was an angel until I showed them. They didn't believe me at first."

What? Wait...oh, no way...

"Huh, that's odd..." Rhea noted. "Go on."

Kieri continued. "We managed to become friends, and I even taught him some Angelic in that time...but..." She looked down. "You know the rest..."

"Yeah, the demons..." Rhea said again. "And now Arin's looking for you with your brother?"

"That's what it seems like." Kieri said. "According to the owner of the store they had worked in, they hadn't given any other reasons for leaving other than they had to."

"Oh wow..." Buwaro said. "Also, you keep saying 'they'...?"

"Oh, uh..." Kieri replied, turning to Buwaro. "Some people don't go by he or she, and Lingo doesn't have any other alternative words."

"Oh. Wait, what about 'it'? Rhea calls Thadius that all the time." Buwaro put a claw to his chin, in thought.

"That's because 'it' is used for objects, Buwaro." Rhea told him sternly.

"Hm..." Buwaro thought for another moment. "...I'm still confused."

Oh, okay then. "We can explain it all to you on the way to Riverside. Come on, we have to hurry along." And I need to think about _Arin_...

I gestured for the three of them to get a move on. I knew we probably weren't gonna get there before night fell, but at least we could still get there as soon as possible, before the temperature dropped _too_ much. Because God knows I hate this fucking cold, and I hate that I've had to deal with it for the past few days.

But...there's also the matter of Arin. Completely new, has an unscheduled influence...apparently didn't know about angels, or at least this world's version of angels.

I have to think about this. If I only arrived four days ago, immediately before Buwaro and Rhea found Kieri in the woods, I couldn't've influenced events that happened weeks before, or even events that took place in Farun, so what gives!

There's the possibility that they're from Earth too.

But that would be insane!

Think about it! If I made it here what's stopping anyone else?

What could even have brought them here, though? Are we the only two people or are there even more?

Questions for later, I suppose. For now, just bring your mind back to the present, and focus on the road. Best not to let too much show.

I glanced back up at the group, who were now slightly ahead of me, still trying to explain pronouns to Buwaro. I liked them a lot, now being able to interact with them personally. Having read the comic did help a little in getting attached, but overall they were nice people...only exception would be Rhea, with her hard exterior...and also Thadius, if we're even counting Thadius.

But I felt...conflicted about keeping them all in the dark. I...it was hard to put everything even into thoughts. Telling them could have a negative butterfly effect, but...then so would pretty much all my actions...maybe even the actions of Arin, or whoever else happened to have been dragged here.

And the last few days had finally started to catch up to me. I was stuck in a world filled with elemental magic, afterlives, beings that weren't even remotely human in appearance, and to top it off, locked in a soon-to-be-not-secret war between angels and demons that would ruin lives.

Even through my new clothes for the winter, I felt cold, and a headache was coming on, too. And as Rhea had pointed out earlier, it seemed I was eating less than I should. The only plus side to this is that I have water magic, and even that has yet to fully develop; I barely know two simple spells.

I sighed to myself. I need to stop complaining and just count my blessings. I can use water magic, I happened to meet the group pretty much immediately; I killed Lazuli for fuck's sake!

I killed Lazuli...Jesus, that is very hard for me to comprehend. I killed probably one of the most persistent and ruthless demons out there, one that just wouldn't quit until she got her revenge...I wonder, what _does_ happen to her in the end? Is she struck down? Does she rejoin Hell's Army?

No point wondering about it now. She's dead, for good this time. It's not like I'll even find out what does happen to her in the comic. At least I won't have to deal with her shadow over the group.

...I was so lucky.

Well, if that luck keeps up, this'll be a breeze.

Heh, if only reality was that kind to me.

* * *

 _Rhea's POV_

We stopped for lunch by the side of the road right at noon, stopping by another set of scattered boulders. I took a pear and some water from the bag, and then passed it on to Jamal, who had put his hood back on. "Remind me how much food we have left?" I asked him,

"Enough that we have nothing to really worry about." Jamal commented, taking his own ration from the bag. "Should last us dinner and tomorrow's breakfast, if we're unlucky and don't make it to Riverside by then." He handed the bag to Kieri, who ended up taking bread and a carrot from the bag before handing it to Buwaro.

I'll admit, I tried to hold back a chuckle. I couldn't, though, so I chuckled anyway.

Buwaro just grabbed an apple and took a large bite out of it. Damn it, I was gonna save that last one for later!

I went to stand up, only for a sharp pang to go through my chest. I flinched and sat back down, wincing; scratching at it again, furiously this time. I hated this; I hated having to deal with these stupid phantom pains!

"Are you okay, Rhea?" I heard Buwaro ask.

I looked up and saw him—well, actually all three people—looking at me in what I could only assume was worry. I shuffled slightly into a more comfortable position before answering.

"Yeah, I'm fine..."

"Are you sure?" Jamal asked again. "You seemed to be scratching pretty hard..."

"I said I'm fine." I said, sitting up straighter, the itch coming back quickly. "Just...I keep getting these phantom pains." I started scratching again; I was practically gonna undo my shirt at this rate. "They come and go at random times...sometimes it's just an itch, other times it feels like I'm getting stabbed all over again." I scratched again, but then I accidentally hooked my hand on one of the strings and got it tangled in my shirt. "Ugh..." I started disentangling my hand.

Jamal sighed, his book in his own hand. "I suppose your damnation isn't about to go away, huh..."

"Doesn't seem like it..." I got my hand free, and then started fixing the string back into place. "I mean, it didn't hurt in Hell, but that was only because I wasn't fully damned." I took a bite out of my pear.

"Are you sure you will be okay?" Kieri asked.

"Yes." I replied with my mouth full, swallowing after I responded. "Pain's gone now."

Kieri nodded slightly and sat down to eat her carrot and drink her water. Jamal quietly munched on his bread with one hand, while reading his alchemy book with his other. Buwaro went back to munching on his apple. It was clear he was enjoying it, at least.

I continued eating my pear. I let my thoughts drift back to the task at hand. Kieri's brother is in Riverside, along with his friend and a Human that they had met along the way. They had a head start, but we were hot on their trail. This trip wasn't in any risk of going south...both literally and figuratively.

And I would finally be able to get a warm place to stay again! And I'd finally get a bed to myself! Jamal's sleeping bags would see to that!

I glanced at Jamal to see him drink some water from his bottle. Heh, have to admit, I don't regret having come across him back in the woods. He's been a good help so far.

Hmm...but then there's also his own issue. Looking for a family he doesn't know the location of, and doesn't have leads...I bet he's hoping the mission to find Kieri's brother will lead him through his home town...

But that's unlikely. As far as I know, it snows pretty much everywhere on Fragaria. Although, he _did_ note that he lived by the south coast...could be Port Dorade, could even be St Curtis, neither of which we'd get to anytime soon. Guess he'll just have to be patient.

I finished eating my pear, and pulled out a couple of marshmallows, which we hadn't gotten to eat last night. So, we have our mission to find Kieri's brother, then to find Jamal's family, and then...

What happens then?

With Buwaro in the group it's highly unlikely we'd ever find a good place to stay. As much as it pains to admit it, his demon heritage is probably our biggest problem, even now.

But...we have time. I believe at least one of us will have a solution by then.

* * *

 _Buwaro's POV_

Rhea had kept insisting we hurry so that we got to Riverside while the sun was still up and the sky was still blue. But then the sky once again changed, turning shades of red, yellow and indigo, and darkened until it reached blackness.

Watching all this happen, over the two hours that Rhea cursed about our slowness, was...beautiful. Rhea was right, Medius was very beautiful. This is why Sakido wanted to leave Hell...

I carefully pulled out her sun pendant from under my coats. It was still intact, it was all I had left to remember her by...including the wings, those were pretty nice.

I saw something shining on the pendant, and I looked up. I was taken by surprise. It was like there were two very dim suns in the night sky. One was green, while the other was red; they were very close to each other. I could see shadows again, but these were fainter than before.

I think Snowy caught me staring up at them. "Wow..." I heard her say. "The twin moons of Medius are so beautiful..."

"Is that was those are?" I asked, not sure who I was actually asking.

"Yeah..." Jamal answered lowly, looking up at them as well.

"Yes, yes, the moons are pretty, how long until we reach the damn city?" Rhea groaned.

Jamal looked down at the map for a couple of moments. "It should be within eyeshot in a few. Thank G-Gaia I can still see the map in the moonlight..." He huffed a little; I could see his breath.

The air was cold, but not as cold as it was before. The air felt slightly heavier than before. But then...

"Achoo!"

Snowy sneezed, suddenly turning into a snow bunny.

"Achoo!"

Then she sneezed again; she was an angel again.

"Ah-CHOO!"

And she was a bunny again, lying on the snow.

"Whoa, are you okay, Snowy?" I asked, crouching down to see if I could help her. She looked dizzy...? Dazed.

I saw Jamal and Rhea stop walking and come back to help "Yeah, jeez, that must've been pretty disorienting..." Rhea commented. Jamal remained silent.

Snowy muttered something that I didn't understand. It was probably Angelic language, actually. She stopped, and then spoke again, in Lingo this time. "I-I'm fine..." She sighed, and looked back up at us.

"Let's not get sick so soon..." Jamal muttered, before standing up and turning around. "However, we do have some good news. Come take a look."

Rhea and I stood up and walked over to Jamal, noticing the ground falling from a little crest, the path continuing sideways down it. Past that crest there was a line of inky black cutting through the snowed plains, and right next to it, was a gigantic mass of lights, which stretched as far as I could see.

"We made it to Riverside City." Jamal said proudly.

"Wow..."

"Let's go!" Rhea proclaimed, running down the slope towards the city.

I turned around and walked back to Snowy, who was still a bunny, her bag and her sword still lying next to her.

"I..." She closed her eyes for a few moments before opening them again. "I-I can't-"

Jamal walked up to us from his spot. "What is it?"

"I can't change back..." Snowy whimpered.

"I see..." he replied, crouching down next to her. I did the same.

"Don't worry, Snowy." I told her. "You'll figure it out later!"

Jamal half-smiled. "Yeah. We'll carry your stuff for now." He picked up her sword and her bag.

Wait, that's all her stuff...oh wait, I can still carry Snowy! I picked her up off the snow, making sure to hold her carefully. She squeaked as she was picked up, but then looked up at me and smiled.

"Thank you...both..." She said quietly.

"No problem!" I replied, smiling.

"W-well...we should get a move on." Jamal commented. "Rhea's gonna leave us in the dust at this rate." He pointed to a small dot far down the path to the city. Wow, Rhea made it that far already?

Wait, I think I can hear her...

"WHOO! CIVILISATION!"

Boy, did she sound excited.

I quickly ran down the path after her.

* * *

 _My POV_

Riverside City is absolutely amazing. I mean it, it looks...pseudo-modern, in a way. The general architecture gave it away, though the roads were cobble instead of asphalt and street lamps were only 3 metres tall, made of pure black iron, fuelled by oil, and had two heads.

Wait...that doesn't look like oil, does it? It's not flickering...it's too hard to tell, but something tells me the lamps might be using something different. Imagine if it was actual electricity.

I was starting to share in Rhea's excitement about being back in civilisation, because Riverside itself felt...familiar almost. This was both good and bad, but I did my best to focus on the good.

"Okay. We're here now..." I muttered. "Now all that's left to do is find an inn."

"Okay!" Buwaro replied happily.

"Of course, he's to hoping Rhea doesn't get lost again and we have to go around the whole city for the next 6 hours..." I muttered.

"Hey!" She snapped.

"Sorry..." I said meekly. That comment came out before I thought about it.

"Ugh, besides," She continued. "I've never actually been here. The obvious thing to do is go around and ask for directions."

I looked around. The streets were all but empty. I rubbed my gloved hands a little.

"Everyone's inside because of the cold, Rhea."

"Oh, there's bound to be people out, Jamal." Rhea said. "It's only a matter of looking through a couple blocks."

About five blocks further down the street and the only other person in the area was a homeless guy. A Jakkai who looked...substantially bigger than Rhea, and had a surprising spotted pattern on his fur? I didn't know Jakkai could have spots. Also of note was his grey and white fur colour, though I quickly remembered why he'd have that colouration. I had just forgotten because Rhea didn't have it.

"Hey, uh..." Rhea greeted him awkwardly. "D'you know where we can find an inn around here?"

The Jakkai nodded calmly, speaking in a low, gruff voice. "Three blocks north and one west. I pass it on the way to the market."

"Alright, thanks." Rhea said, turning to go to another street. "Let's go, guys."

"Goodbye!" Buwaro said cheerfully, waving at the Jakkai with his free hand. The Jakkai tentatively waved back, probably taken off-guard by Buwaro's attitude. I stayed just long enough to note it, then turned and followed the trio down the street.

Sure enough, the homeless man's directions led to the inn we were looking for: The Chipper Mudskipper. It was a much bigger and nicer-looking building than the inn at Farun. It was wider, and even had a couple of extra floors. It was perfect for weary travellers such as us.

"What a dumb name..." Rhea groaned. "That doesn't even look like a mudskipper."

"I think it's kind of cute..." Kieri piped up

"What's a mudskipper?" Buwaro wondered aloud.

"Apparently it's not the animal painted on the sign." I shrugged, turning to look at another sign that was nearby. "Side note, the inn doesn't allow pets."

"Hm..." Rhea said. "Guess we'll just have to smuggle Kieri in."

"Wait, what?" The bunny in question blinked.

"Buwaro, think you can hide her somewhere?" Rhea asked.

"Maybe under your hat?" I suggested. "Or just in your jacket?"

Buwaro looked down at Kieri; I wasn't entirely sure but he looked confused.

"Why do we have to hide her? She's not a pet, she's an angel."

"The innkeeper won't know that." I told him. "And I seriously doubt simply explaining to him or her will fix anything; the situation is...unbelievable in virtually every sense of the word."

"Besides, we don't want to stay outside longer than we have to, Buwaro. And we don't have time to look for inns that do allow pets, if there's any at all nearby."

"...alright." Kieri nodded. Buwaro nodded as well; he took off his hat, placed Kieri on his head, and put the hat back on...

...only for the hat to not come down all the way.

"Heh, guess she's not gonna fit in there." Rhea chuckled. I noticed Kieri blush as she poked her head out from under the hat. "A-anywhere else?" She asked.

"Well, none of the pockets are big enough, either." I noted, looking at Buwaro's coat. "You know what? What if I just put you inside my hood?"

"That could work!" Buwaro proceeded to stuff Kieri inside my hood, which I was still wearing, mind you. Kieri squeaked as he did so.

"C-careful!" I grunted.

"Sorry."

I felt Kieri shuffling around- God, that tickles!

"O-Okay, how does it look?" I asked.

"Still looks weird..." Rhea said. "But passable, let's just go in already!"

Without waiting for confirmation, she stormed up the stairs and into the inn. Buwaro and I just followed her in. "Stay still..." I whispered to Kieri. She moved slightly, but remained silent.

Once inside the inn, I took in the warm atmosphere. Man, how I had missed warmth like this. The inn itself seemed much better kept than the one in Farun, both in terms of cleanliness and general quality of the material. It even had some really nice-looking furniture. With that in mind, the lobby was completely empty, just like in Farun. Must be pretty late to check in; I couldn't check the time to see just how late.

I watched as Rhea propped herself up on her tail to reach the counter, and rang the bell to call the innkeeper. "Anyone there?" She called out.

"Be there in a minute!" A voice replied from the other room replied. Pretty young-sounding, too.

"I'd like to check in, please!" Rhea called out again.

I stepped to make sure I faced the front desk. It was a paper-thin disguise for Kieri, but maybe they won't notice from this angle. I, however, noticed Buwaro once again looking around the room in wonder.

"Like the place, Buwaro?" I asked him.

He turned to me and nodded. "Yeah-huh!" He glanced around a little more before settling on the paintings again. "How do they get these?"

"They paint them by hand using paint, which is basically a coloured paste." I explained. "As for how real it looks, well, that's just skill."

"Wow..." Buwaro said. "...so, how do they-?"

I heard footsteps come from the other room, and soon after, the front desk guy showed up. I guessed that it wasn't the innkeeper; the guy looked too young. And I couldn't really tell anything else, other than the nice glasses they were wearing.

"Sorry," they said. "I was helping out in the kitchen for a bit." They put a kitchen towel down on the desk. They looked up at us. "So, heard you'd all like a room?"

"Yes, please!" Rhea all but chirped happily. "Room for f- three?"

"We have rooms for four." The front desk guy replied, shrugging. "Will you be fine with that?"

"Yeah, yeah!" I nodded. Well, this was pretty convenient. "It'll do great."

"Alrighty!" They said, reaching back to the wall and grabbing a pair of keys. "Room 303 for you guys. Ten silver."

Rhea reached into her back, pulled out the aforementioned silver coins and handed them over. Then she turned to go up the stairs. Buwaro followed suit. And I...awkwardly shuffled there because I was still trying to hide Kieri. Hopefully they didn't suspect anything...

Anyway, the stairs and the hallways were all lit up with lanterns, which was great because that didn't mean we were simply walking around in the dark like in Farun.

...wow, I keep comparing it to just that one place.

Maybe because it's the only other building I've been in besides the stores and Rhea's old abandoned house in the forest.

...anyway, we got to the third floor soon enough. We walked down the hallway to Room 303, unlocked the door, and stepped inside. The room, like the rest of the inn, was well-kept, lit up, and overall had a very warm and welcoming atmosphere to it. It had four beds, each with bedside tables; two closets, and two chests to put our stuff in. It even had some nice-looking banners on the adjacent wall, and windows in the opposite wall.

Rhea immediately jumped up and flopped on one of the beds. "Finally..." She all but moaned, before sitting up to look at the room again. "This is place is so much better than Farun!"

I set Kieri's things down next to another bed, and sat down, pulling my hood back and carefully picking Kieri up and out. "Okay, there we go." I sighed, gently placing Kieri on the bed, next to me. She was a very fluffy bunny.

"I...feel bad about lying about my staying here..." She muttered.

"We didn't really have much of a choice." I replied. "We weren't just gonna leave you outside, anyway."

"So cheer up, Kieri." Rhea said; she looked pretty happy. She got up off the bed and slipped out of her jacket. "I'll go get us something to eat, you kids just wait. Mm, bet they have a feast down there..." She walked out of the room and closed the door.

Kieri let out a sigh and laid down on her bed. Buwaro, who had been busy removing his jacket, hat, gloves and boots, had finally finished freeing himself of the disguise and immediately sat down next to her, setting Thadius aside.

"Everything okay?" He asked her.

"I suppose..." Kieri mumbled, sitting up, and looking up at Buwaro. "At least we made it, right?"

Buwaro nodded happily, smiling brightly, and for the first time, I noticed his tail had started wagging like a dog's.

If you don't think that's adorable, then...never mind, lots of people on Medius wouldn't find it adorable.

"We'll find your brother in no time!" He said as he scooped Kieri up off the bed "Just you wait!"

I found myself smiling too. "We're only getting closer to reaching him." But then I did something I found myself regretting immediately. I raised my hand and pet Kieri.

It wasn't much of a pet. I did it with two fingers and it was just the one tap on the top of her head. But when I lowered my hand, I found myself thinking I overstepped my boundaries there. Did Kieri even mind that? Was I overthinking this?

In hindsight, I probably was, but in that moment, I just sort of went quiet and thought to myself. Maybe I should just...stay a little quieter from now on, not interfere too much.

I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Anyway-"

Rhea opened the door at that moment, carrying two trays, each with bowls of what looked like noodle soup. Thank you, once again, for the save.

"Dinner's here!" she proclaimed as she closed the door with her tail. "I even got some vegetarian for Kieri!"

"...how?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I told the chefs that one of us needed a double serving." She put a tray on her bedside table. Now able to hold the remaining one—the one with the vegan soup—with both hands, she walked over to us with a grin. "And that the other wanted vegetarian." She put the tray on the other bedside table. The soup actually smelled super good.

"Well, you guys go ahead and dig in!" She walked back to her bed and grabbed a bowl. I got up and joined her, while Buwaro and Kieri went to take their respective servings. I don't know exactly how or why, but I was the first one done. Yes, I beat Rhea AND Buwaro. Kieri was still a bunny, so she didn't get to eat all of it at once.

She did, however, still have concerns about Kazai. "D-do you really think we'll find Kazai here?"

"Well," Rhea said, with her mouth full, before swallowing and continuing. "We know for a fact he and his friends came here. But for all we know they could've already left."

"Hmm..." I let myself start thinking aloud. "Kazai and Sanjulo had a two-to-three day head start on us...but they're also grounded, because Arin is also with them. Best case scenario, whoever they're chasing is still here, and so they're still here. If not, they could be anywhere between prepping for the next leg and being already out of the city." I took a sip of my soup. "I don't know, they might just still be here, but likely not for long."

Kieri looked down. However, Buwaro was quick to pick her up again and give her a hug. "Don't be sad! We'll try our best to find him for you. We promise!" He held Kieri in his arms, with a big smile on his face.

I have to admit, his positivity can be pretty contagious. I actually feel happy just watching him be positive. I felt like adding to that, something about being able to follow him even if we didn't catch him in Riverside, but I stopped myself.

"Th-thank you so much, Buwaro!" Kieri said, her tone of voice indicating that she was hopeful once again. "I'm so glad I met you three!" Buwaro just smiled more and hugged her again, giving her a nuzzle, his tail wagging.

Kieri actually lets out a small giggle at Buwaro's antics. "I-I just wish I could do something for you in return..."

"Actually..." Rhea started, setting her now finished bowl of soup on her bedside table and turning to her bag, which was lying beside her. "There _is_ something you can do for us. I kept forgetting about it 'till now." She rummaged through it, searching for the diary.

I watched as she pulled the worn leather-bound book out, and I even noticed Buwaro's expression change slightly.

"I brought this book back from Hell." She proclaimed, holding it up as she got off the bed. I noticed the pure white feather poking out of the book's pages. I also saw the label on the cover, written in what I could only assume was Angelic. Some kind of runic alphabet that looked unlike anything in the Latin alphabet. I could only guess what was written was Darius' name.

"Buwaro and I couldn't make heads or tails of it," Rhea continued, passing the diary to Kieri. "but Buwaro's sister said it was written in Angelic. She didn't tell us any more than that, though. Can you read it?"

She sat down on Kier's—at least I assume it's now Kieri's—bed and watched as the bunny carefully lifted the cover with her paws and looked at the writing in the book. The feather came loose and Buwaro carefully picked it up, looking down at it.

Kieri said something in Angelic, in astonishment. "What? _What?_ " Rhea pressed.

"This diary was written by an Angel named Darius Elexion. You..." she looked back up at Rhea. "You really got this in Hell?"

"I've had it for as long as I can remember, Snowy." Buwaro said.

"I guess that means that feather really is an Angel's..." Rhea said, putting a hand to her chin. "Darius...Darius...that name sounds..."

"Familiar..." I suddenly realised that I mouthed it when Buwaro and Rhea said it. "...It does?" They looked up at each other in confusion.

I sat back and watched them as they started talking about it.

"At least I _think_ 'Darius' sounds familiar." Buwaro noted. "Maybe it's just 'cause it sounds like 'Thadius'?" He tapped Thadius as he spoke.

"I _know_ I heard that name somewhere." Rhea said. "But I just can't remember where..."

Hmm...if I remember correctly, you heard that name from Sakido back in Hell.

"Eh, I'm sure it'll come to me later." Eh, hopefully.

"I...I-I'm not sure we should read it." Kieri said softly.

"Why not?" Rhea was quick to shoot back.

"W-well..." Kieri tapped the inside of the front cover. "Underneath the profile card with his name and favourite colour," Oh wow, Darius actually had that? Didn't remember that detail. "he wrote: 'This diary is private property! Do not read! This means you!'" And then she made an adorable 'Hmph!' noise as if she was acting the writing out.

Rhea laughed and ruffled Kieri's head (at which point I'll admit I felt a litte ashamed for getting so worked up about doing it earlier.). "Oh, you're such a goody-two-shoes! Guess it's expected for an Angel, but come on, be a good sport! Like Buwaro said, he's had this diary for years now, this Darius guy isn't gonna find out or even care that we read his old diary!"

Kieri herself was left a stuttering mess. "B-b-but...but, I don't know..."

"Aren't you the least bit curious about how the diary ended up in Hell?"

"I'm curious!" Buwaro said. "Please, Snowy? Can you read it?"

She looked up at him for a moment, and then sighed. "Okay..." Hmm...

"Hey, Jamal, wanna come over?" Rhea asked. I started slightly and looked back up. Kieri was gonna read us Darius' diary. No need to worry about it...

"Um, sure." I said, getting up and joining the three on Kieri's bed. We shuffled around slightly, so that Rhea was sitting between Buwaro and I, holding the book for Kieri, who sat in front of her to read.

"Okay..." Kieri started reading, turning each page with her paw. "Darius wrote that he worked as an artisan, crafting pendants like the ones Buwaro and I have..." She turned a page and read it aloud, slowly, as she translated directly. "'Even though I've already earned all three pendants, I haven't been drafted to fight in the war yet. I'm worried it's only a matter of time before I'm fighting Demons face-to-face...'"

With each word she spoke, I recalled more and more of what I had seen represented in the comic. This was the exact same text, the exact words. It was becoming clear to be that my memory hadn't been completely perfect. I was fully aware of the exactitude of these words, but I couldn't remember the dialogue perfectly. Conversations I had seen had already started fading from my mind.

At least it gives me more of a reason to stay in the present and listen.

"I wonder if Heaven did draft artisans like him..."

"Hm? What do you mean?" Rhea inquired.

Kieri help up her sun pendant to Rhea. "These pendants are very difficult to make, and not many Angels learn the craft. The pendants are too rare to just h-hand out, so they must be earned. If Daruis really was forced to fight, Heaven must've been very despe...despera..."

Sneeze incoming.

I shuffled away slightly in anticipation. Rhea wasn't so lucky. Kieri sneezed loudly, turning back into an Angel, knocking the diary out of Rhea's hands...and knocking Rhea herself backwards and off the bed. "Ow!"

Kieri didn't have time to apologise before she sneezed again. And then a third time, before she finally managed to stop and take a look at herself.

"I'm an Angel again!"

Buwaro immediately hugged her. "See? Told ya there was nothing to worry about!"

"Th-thank you!"

Rhea poked her head back up from behind her bed. "Ow...well, that's good and all..."

Kieri turned to look at her. "O-oh, sorry Rh- rr-"

And then she sneezed again, and she was back to being a bunny. Poor Kieri.

Buwaro just held her, and sighed. "You'll get the hang of it..." Kieri muttered something in Angelic.

Rhea rubbed her head. "I think we've had enough of this for one night." she said, walking around the bed and picking up the diary off the floor. "It's late, and our translator is having some," she chuckled. "technical difficulties."

"I'm sorry..." Kieri apologised, sniffling and rubbing her nose with her paw.

I looked down at her. "It's okay. We should just get rest already. We've got a day of searching ahead of us." I grinned and pet her again. "Sleep well." I looked up at Buwaro. "You too." And then I shuffled away to the bed on the far side of the room.

As I got ready for bed I sneaked a glance at my watch. 10:34pm. Yeah, it's high time we all sleep. I slipped out of my shoes and my jacket, hiding my watch under my shirt sleeve again, and climbed into bed, curling up under the covers. I had stopped paying attention to the happenings on the other side of the room, but I could still hear shuffling as everyone else went to bed.

The noises stopped hours before I finally managed to drift off.

* * *

 **A/N: We slowly but surely make our way further into the rabbit hole...no pun intended. In the meantime, I would like to hear some constructive criticism for this story. See if I can improve on some things for future chapters.**

 **Ronmr: Jamal himself is surprised about it too. He wasn't expecting there to be new people besides himself in the world.**

 **Guest: Here's to hoping more is learned about Arin's own situation in this world.**


	11. Chapter XI

**A/N: Hello again, everyone. I have brought to you chapter 11 of this story. Let's see what the future has in store for us, now that Jamal can actively pull things out of that store. It can only go well, right?**

* * *

 _Rhea's POV_

It was the Sun that finally woke me up from sleep. Gaia, has this been my best night back on Medius so far! Finally, I had a bed all to myself! Finally I wasn't freezing cold without my winter coat! And I was finally able to wake up before anyone else and not via Buwaro's...uh...

I sat up in my bed. Buwaro was rolled over in his bed, and I couldn't see Kieri, so she was probably behind the guy. Thadius was sitting on her own bed, and Jamal-

Wait, why did he disappear?

Jamal is just gone from his bed, and there's no sign of him anywhere. I think he woke up early and left to do something. Go for a walk? Buy the local newspaper? Sit on the bridge to watch the river with a thumb up his a—?

At that moment, Jamal came in through the door, clad in that purple jacket and pink scarf of his, holding a tray? Is that breakfast?

He placed the tray down on the dresser before he turned around. "Oh...G'morning, Rhea." He said tiredly.

"Morning." I replied, sitting up in bed. "What're you doing up so early?"

He shrugged. "I went for a walk and grabbed breakfast on the way back." He handed me a cup of yoghurt and a small plate with strawberries and raspberries on it. "Went with the second serving excuse again. Told them I needed a few extra pounds."

I chuckled. "Yeah... what _have_ you been eating anyway? Not that many Humans your age are that tall."

"I must've just lucked out." He said, taking his own cup and two teaspoons. "It's not like I'm the tallest one out there. Farun is just full of short people." He handed me one of the spoons and sat down on the edge of my bed.

"Hmm." I took it. I was actually pretty short for a Jakkai myself, barely standing 2'8". Most of the people at my village, Ramirez included, were half a head taller than me at the very least. Plus side, their shocked looks when I promptly used my tail to tower over them were priceless.

"Sleep well?" I asked him. Though, the bags under his eyes were already giving me the answer.

"Eh, well enough." He said, putting two raspberries into his cup absent-mindedly. "You?"

"Better than I've slept in almost a year." I admitted. "You'd get tired of sleeping on rocks and getting used as a pillow too, so having a bed all to myself is... _so good_."

"Well, you did spend that almost-year in Hell, so..." He looked down. "Still, glad you got some proper sleep. Uh, sorry." He quickly apologised.

"Don't be." I shrugged. "I'm out, so it's not something I have to worry about anymore." I decided to leave the phantom pains out of this.

He just nodded and ate a teaspoonful of the yoghurt, with one of the raspberries. "Well, I suggest we get ready for the day in a bit." He said.

"Alright..." The two of us continued eating breakfast until Buwaro and Kieri finally woke up. The former stretched and yawned loudly, while the latter simply blinked herself awake and sat up.

"Morning, you two." Jamal said, giving them an awkward wave. "Buwaro; Kieri, glad to see you're an angel again."

"G'morning!"

"M-morning. Y-yes, I hope it lasts this time."

Jamal walked over and handed them the two remaining cups of yoghurt. "Here's breakfast."

"Thank you." Kieri said, taking her cup. Buwaro had other ideas, however, and immediately grabbed the diary, which I had left on the bedside table last night. "Snowy?" He asked, turning to her. "Can you please continue reading the diary now?"

"Buwaro," I said walking up to him. "Let's leave that 'till later, okay?" I took the diary out of his hands.

"We've gotta go look for Kieri's brother today." Jamal continued. "We have all of Riverside City to look around. There's almost no doubt we'll find something. But we'll have to hurry if we want to get any closer to reachi-"

A loud sneeze suddenly came from behind Buwaro. The three of us turned to look...and saw Kieri, once again a bunny. Well, that didn't last long at all, huh?

Kieri groaned. Jamal just walked over and picked her up carefully. "Well...look on the bright side." He said. "At least we don't have to worry about answering any awkward questions about where the extra person came from."

Oh crap, he had a pretty good point. There's no way we would've been able to pass that off with the innkeeper otherwise...nah, I'm sure I'd think of something in time.

"Does that mean we have to hide Snowy again?" Buwaro asked.

"Yeah...at least we don't have to worry as much the rest of the time, I think."

And so I got dressed, Buwaro disguised himself, and Jamal hid Kieri once again in his hood. We walked back down the stairs and into the lobby, where we were pleased to find that it was empty again. We quickly snuck out of the room and went outside. Jamal pulled Kieri out of his hood.

"Okay," He said. "Think you can turn back on your own now?"

"I don't know..." She muttered.

"You won't know until you try!" Buwaro said, picking her up and placing her on the ground. "You can do it!"

She looked up at him, and then nodded. "O-okay..." She closed her eyes, and sure enough, after a few moments:

 _Poing!_

She was back to being an Angel again.

She breathed a sigh of relief, and looked up again, smiling. Buwaro was quick to give her a hug. "Yay! I knew you could do it!" He said happily. Kieri hugged back, still smiling. I actually felt something nice at their attitude. Even Jamal was smiling a little.

Either way, we needed to get moving. I cleared my throat. "Alright," I stated. "Now that that's sorted, we better get to work. The old man mentioned a market nearby yesterday. It'll do us good to ask around there first."

"Yeah, where there's a lot of people..." Jamal agreed. He rolled his shoulders. "We have our work cut out for us. At least it's warmer now..."

"Let's get going already!" Buwaro whined, clearly eager to get the search underway. Kieri nodded nervously. "Y-yes. Let's." She said.

* * *

 _My POV_

It took about five minutes to reach the market, and wow, this place was _bustling_ with activity. Riverside City certainly didn't disappoint in terms of...well, anything and /or everything. I was also seeing a lot more Jakkai in the area than I'd ever seen before. Certainly more than in Farun.

Though to be perfectly fair, I don't think I even remember seeing any Jakkai in Farun aside from Rhea. Maybe one or two in the whole town besides her.

Anyway, the comic actually hadn't done the little guys justice. There were all kinds of Jakkai, with all sorts of ear shapes, tail lengths, and fur patterns. Many had stripes like Rhea, lots of others had spots; there were quite a few with much more extravagant patterns or no patterns at all.

It wasn't just the Jakkai that kept catching my eye, however. The overall architecture of this place was about as modern as it could allow itself to be. The stores were beautifully kept and the merchandise was plentiful. Hmm...

No, don't let your thoughts go back to that. Focus on finding Kazai for now.

I mean, it's kind of pointless. Arin may have delayed him, but what's the likelihood of reaching him _today_? Especially since Rhea ends up getting dropped into a river-

Wait, could I try to stop that by any chance?

What about the kids that were playing _on_ the river itself?

I...shit. I'll just have to think of something. I have time, I have time...

I blinked and suddenly found myself in a clothing store. Huh, must've zoned out or something. The four of us were here, so it thankfully meant that I didn't get lost. Kieri walked over to the shopkeeper, holding out her tabard.

"Uh, excuse me." Kieri said. "I'm looking for my brother, have you seen him around here in the past few days?"

"Don't think so..." The shopkeeper shrugged. He was a grown man barely past his prime, with blonde hair and a moustache. He sounded gruff, but understanding, he added: "Though I could've. What does your brother look like?"

"He's my twin," Kieri described him. "So, he looks like me, only taller, and wearing this:" She showed the shopkeeper her tabard. "He was with a blonde Human and a red Angel?"

The shopkeeper thought for a few moments, before shaking his head. "No, I don't think I have seen people with those descriptions. Sorry."

"I-it's okay..." she replied, clearly sounding downtrodden. "Thank you for your help, sir."

"You're welcome." He said. "I hope you find your brother soon, young lady."

She just nodded, and walked out of the store, with Rhea, Buwaro, and I, in tow.

"Well, that went well..." Rhea said sarcastically.

"At least the man was nice." Buwaro commented.

"Either way," I stated. "We have a lot more ground to cover, and the whole day to do so. I'm certain we'll find _something_ by that time." I actually wasn't all that certain, but now that the chance to get to Kazai early is presenting itself, I'm not gonna hinder it; I just need to start thinking farther ahead once we find a suitable clue.

Jeez, come to think of it there's a lot that's to happen in the future...

I'm just feeling less and less prepared for this...

No, I have to stick to the present for now. If I remember correctly, originally, they saved the kids, got into the trouble centre, and eventually joined up with the Sinclairs after rescuing Eve for Sam...

But what about-

Damn it, focus! I need to focus...

* * *

 _Buwaro's POV_

"Okay, maybe third time's the charm?" I said. The other two shops we had gone to failed to give up any clues as to where Snowy's brother and his friends were.

"Might be." Jamal replied. "But we may have to start searching _out_ of the shopping district, soon."

"He does have a point, Kieri." Rhea noted, looking up at her. "I understand being thorough, but I think at this point he just wasn't in this part of the city."

"M-maybe you're right..." Snowy said.

"We'll get to him, don't worry!" I told her. "We can still check this last place before we move on!"

Jamal opened the door, and Snowy, taking a deep breath, walked inside, straight towards the...counter, that's what it's called.

I looked around. Wow, there was a lot of stuff in here. "What does this place sell?" I asked Rhea.

"Food, mostly candy." She answered.

Food? "I wanna try some!" I told her.

"Maybe later. We still have a lot more searching to do." She muttered.

"But Rhea...!"

"She's right, Buwaro." Jamal said lowly. "We have the search to worry about..."

I looked down.

"...buuut I suppose we could get some for lunch later." He added.

" _Really?_ "

He was about to continue when Snowy came back, looking down again. "Not here, either..."

"Okay." Rhea said. "Let's go to a couple more stores, and then go outside the district; we also have to think about..."

I glanced at a nearby shelf. It was filled with lots of items I didn't recognise. They were all encased in different things, too. I wonder...

I started reaching for one of the things. But right when I grabbed it, Jamal grabbed my wrist. "Not. Yet." He told me, prying the thing out of my hand. "For later."

"I just wanted to try one..." I tried reaching it again, but Jamal didn't budge.

"Well, we would've had to buy it first." He said.

"Can we-"

"Rhea?"

" **No.** "

* * *

 _Kieri's POV_

We had spent a great deal of time in the shopping district. I had an inkling that Arin would've wanted to continue buying supplies; if the three of them couldn't catch the demon before it...he left the city. We checked clothing stores, food stores, and even a couple of souvenir shops. But it wasn't long before it became clear that they simply hadn't been in this side of the city.

"Okay, no leads in the district..." Rhea said. "We still have the rest of the city to search. They can't have gone too far, so we might be able to find _something_ today."

"Yeah, we'll find something!" Buwaro added. I smiled at him and replied. "Yeah...we still have time in the day."

Jamal, on the other hand, had been quiet during the later part of the search. He had suggested a couple of stores, but otherwise hadn't spoken much. However, now he spoke up. "Maybe we should have a short meal before we continue." He suggested. "Just...a short break."

"You know what? That's not a bad idea." Rhea said, shrugging. "It shouldn't affect our search _too_ much."

I wasn't really against the idea. Now that he mentioned it, it was noon, and I felt a little hungry. And I could just see Buwaro's eyes light up at the prospect, especially after he didn't get to have that one snack from that one store.

And so, the four of us walked down the lightly snowed street, which led out of the shopping district, and walked into a cafe. It was warm, and it actually looked really nice, with equally warm chocolate-coloured walls, and soft lighting.

The food was nice. We had opted for biscuits and hot chocolate to warm up. Though Riverside was noticeable less cold than Farun, it was still cold, and there was still snow on the ground, even if there was less of it.

We ate quietly—well, mostly. Buwaro kept going on about how good the food was. Rhea made sure he sat facing away from everyone else in the cafe, and prevented him from turning around. He didn't mind all that much, given his enjoyment of the food. It was cute to watch- wait.

I had focused then on Rhea, who simply stayed quiet except to stop Buwaro from turning around once or twice. Then I focused on Jamal, who was eating slowly and quietly. Rhea soon picked up on this. "You okay there, Jamal?" she asked him.

He looked up. "Yeah..." He replied quickly, taking a bite out of his biscuit. "Why do you ask?"

"You look a little tense, actually." Rhea said. "Anxious, I dunno."

He shrugged. "I guess I'm just as eager to find Kazai as any one of us. We're much closer than I thought at first, to reach him and his friends." He looked up at me. "We just have to take advantage of the time we have."

I nodded. Buwaro nodded too, giving me a smile. "We still have half the day to go, Snowy. We can do it." I smiled back. "Yeah..." I said, almost to myself. We _would_ find Kazai. We're so close...

* * *

 _My POV_

Okay, let's say the two kids playing on the river ended up stressing me out for quite a bit. That, and the very real possibility that we could bypass pretty much the entire adventure by finding Kazai here on Riverside, no matter how unlikely it was, or how much more unlikely it was becoming by the moment. It was a huge curveball, but in the presence of the gang, and Kieri in particular, there would be no good reason for me to try to sabotage the mission simply so that I could continue treading familiar ground—well, quote "familiar" end quote.

So I was pleasantly surprised to find that one district of the city was actually across a branch of the Zolle River, and there were bridges that crossed it, each one loaded with benches for people to sit and watch the river. The obvious choice was to convince the three of them to go check it out, which was very easy.

The district was almost directly next to the shopping district; they must've been passing by in the comic to be there taking their snacks. Now, I had no way of telling what time it had been for them at that scene in the comic, and I could only assume their search time was not identical to the search time we had now.

Still, as we walked over the bridge, I peaked around to look. It was quite a spectacle, actually. The city was as gorgeous as ever, and so was the frozen river beneath the beautiful stone bridge...

Heh, I'm already starting to think like I've lived here all my life...

I guess I can't help but appreciate the beauty of the physical world when I'm bored...or stressed...or just need a distraction. Or when I don't need a distraction but I get distracted anyway while doing something importa-

There they are. Those two kids, playing by the river.

 _By_ the river. They haven't moved _onto_ the river yet.

Best to keep an eye out...

I could hear the trio conversing, and with new awareness of my surroundings, I made sure to stay by them. We were walking towards the end of the bridge the children were by.

I looked around that area to see if the kids' parents were nearby. But no such luck. The kids were too far away for me to match their faces with anyone of the commuters nearby; then again, I was never that good at telling familial similarities, either physical or behavioural.

And why the hell am I thinking to myself with such long words?

I shook my head, huffing slightly. I could see my breath again. It was the afternoon, and it felt a slight bit colder than before. It's a miracle I didn't get hypothermia...

"Everything okay, Jamal?"

"Yeah, yeah." I hadn't even registered who said that, just that the words were spoken. "I'm fine, just still feeling a bit cold."

"How warm was it where you lived again?" Rhea asked. "Riverside isn't as cold as Farun."

"I feel a bit hot in these clothes, actually." Buwaro added.

"I've never dealt with freezing temperatures... no snow, no nothing." I shrugged. I had already established that I lived somewhere with no snow. I had ultimately decided to say so, counting on that Rhea seemed to know very little about the world's full geography and couldn't think of a real location, Kieri knew very little about how society or travelling worked and couldn't pipe in, and Buwaro...well, he knew absolutely nothing on either subject.

...why am I talking about them like pawns or something...?

They're real people. They're with me. They're my friends.

Do I trust them?

I can't risk it...

My mind was racing, but outwardly, I stayed quiet. I stayed quiet and tried to listen to the voices outside rather than inside.

"Are you sure?" Rhea asked again.

I looked down at my hand. "I...can recognise things as familiar, even without memories. Like remembering a smell, or a taste. The snow was foreign to me. I know for certain that I've never seen it prior to waking up."

I looked forwards to see we were reaching the end of the bridge. I could see the people—above all, the kids—clearer now. I had to be more alert about my surroundings, lest I trip and fall into the river or something.

"Oh wow..." Buwaro said, putting a gloved hand to his chin. But then he looked up. "You kind of talk funny."

I blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"You use big words, and you say things funny."

"That's called a lisp, Buwaro." Rhea deadpanned.

"Oi." Mixed feelings, but it was a distraction I wanted to take. I didn't want to have to be paranoid because of my accent.

Having heard the trio talk, it was interesting not just to hear their voices, but to hear their accents. Buwaro's was pretty neutral; he had little exposure to other accents. Rhea spoke with a slight drawl, which made sense given her past life. Kieri's was the most noticeable. She spoke neutrally, but every now and then she'd mix up the stressing on words. It was a reminder that Lingo wasn't her first language.

And good thing the three saw my accent as a lisp. Lingo—or rather, English—wasn't my first language either. I was more fluent than Kieri, but I might've been a slight bit out of practice.

I sighed lightly. I really need to stop worrying so much. Do I? Yeah, I do.

We were at the end of the bridge now. I could see the kids clearly now; they had already moved onto the river. I stopped and spoke up. "Guys, look."

Kieri and Buwaro turned to look, while Rhea propped herself up on her tail to see. "Oh, come on..."

She made her way off the bridge, and the three of us followed her. I have a bad feeling about this...

It was just like in the original comic now: Rhea yelled at the kids to get off the river, only for them to yell back for her to mind her own business. I could tell Rhea would either run out onto the river as well, or push until one of the kids broke the ice and she'd have to step in regardless...

I have to go get the kids' parents, now.

But do I bring Buwaro or Kieri? Who should stay with Rhea? Buwaro knows her better, but Kieri would be wiser about the situati-

Ah, fuck it, I'll just go myself.

"I'll be back. Make sure nothing bad happens." I turned and sprinted back up to the road, away from the river shore. I ran about a block before I reached the small groups at the entry to the district.

"Hey!"

Several people looked up.

"There's children out in the river! We have to get them out before something bad happens!"

Of those people, four or five of them dashed over, most likely the children's family, with a few others getting up and following, either friends or bystanders who wanted to help. I gestured for them to hurry. "Come on!" Then I made like them and dashed back to the bridge edge leading to the river shore.

We arrived just in time to see the ice break right underneath one of the kids. They were far enough from the edge of the ice sheet that he wouldn't be swept out immediately, however. We had time.

"NO!" One of the people with me shouted. Rhea was the first to run out onto the river. Buwaro and Kieri were close behind, and so were some of the faster people I brought with me. Someone else called out. "NOT SO MANY PEOPLE AT ONCE!" There was loud cracking as more parts of the ice gave way. I managed to step onto the river, only for one of those cracks to go straight through my path and for my leg to sink in all the way.

I yelped and tried to scramble out. The water was so cold it _burned_ my leg through my pants. The ice _burned_ my hands as I dug myself out of the hole. I felt myself be jerked up and I found my footing again. Another Human had helped me back up. "Th-thanks...". She just nodded in reply and turned back to the situation.

There were more cracks forming along the ice; people milled around, trying to avoid it. Some quickly ran back to shore, as more people appear and watched. I walked around cautiously, trying to get a better view of what was going on; there were too many people on the river.

"OKAY! Okay!" Someone else called out over the din. "Everyone stay calm! Move slowly towards the shore. One or two people at a time!"

Some left, but many didn't hear her. There was a splash as someone else fell in. There was another splash and more shouting. I ran—more like, walked briskly to avoid falling in as well—towards the where splashes came.

There were Human water mages at the ready, freezing the water to extend the ice shelf as far as they could. Kieri was among them, trying to reach the child. Rhea was keeping the other child away from the edge as they were rescuing his friend.

There was another splash behind me, accompanied by a familiar voice yelping, and I turned around to see Buwaro falling into the ice.

I rushed over to pull him out; he barely managed to hang on, the clothing must've been weighing him down. He scrambled to get out, but it was just cracking the ice around him even more. "Help me, help me! I don't wanna freeze!"

"Help!" I called out. Rhea was the first to run over, quickly shoving the kid to someone else before she grabbed one of Buwaro's hands, also wrapping her tail around it as much as she could. I grabbed his other hand once I could, and the two of us managed to heave him back out of the water, though not entirely. Buwaro's lower half was still submerged, Rhea was starting to slip, and the ice was cracking beneath us. And he was still panicking loudly.

I crouched as I pulled Buwaro's arm. I wanted to try and see if I could stabilise the ice with magic, but I could barely hold on to the guy with both my hands, I wasn't about to risk him slipping by letting go with one. I cringed as the ice made sounds of strain, and cracked more, scarily close to Rhea.

I felt other people grab my shoulders and help to pull. I felt the ice beneath us harden as the mages got to us. With one final collective yank, Buwaro was pulled to safety; he flopped down on the ice, breathing heavily.

His hat had become slightly askew, his glove had almost come off, and his clothing in general was stuck to his body. Kieri and I quickly helped him to his feet.

"Is everyone okay?" Someone called out.

"I think so...!"

I looked around. The ice seemed to have stabilised, though a good portion of the people that came were still at the river shore rather than out on the river. A lady was holding the boy who fell into the river in her arms, his friend was with them. A couple of other people were being tended to as well. I looked down at Buwaro and watched as Rhea and Kieri quickly made to fix the holes in his disguise that had formed in the mishap. Kieri and I helped Buwaro to his feet.

"Alright, now that that's over..." The one young woman who tried to take control of the situation earlier spoke up. "Everyone, let's get off the river, _slowly_ , two people at a time, uh, wet ones first."

The lady went first, carrying her son out to shore. Next came the Human and the Jakkai who had fallen in the ordeal, helped out by their respective friends. Buwaro and I came right after. He had claimed earlier that he felt hot in the jacket, quite a feat for a fire demon who could supposedly grab hot coals with no ill effects, but now he was shivering as we got off the river. He must be freezing, soaked through, and with all the clothing he wasn't about to dry fast enough.

Speaking of being soaked in freezing water, the cold in my pants leg had finally returned, having disappeared from my mind in the chaos. I got us both to a bench and sat Buwaro down, while I sat down next to him to rub my leg furiously.

A few moments later, Rhea and Kieri came over to us. "Buwaro, are you okay?" Kieri spoke up, standing right in front of the guy.

"Y-y-yeah, just..." He shivered and hugged himself. "C-c-co-cold..."

She stood up and looked around. "We have to find a towel or something..."

"Most we can do is get 'im something hot." Rhea told her. "His clothes are what's wet, and he can't get them off outside, you know this."

"F-fine..." She walked over to the scattered group nearby to seek help.

"I'm just glad we got out of that..." She muttered. I wasn't 100% sure of what she had been thinking, but I had a pretty good guess. And on the flip side, no one in our group came close to actually drowning.

"So am I..." I rubbed the back of my head. "I...never mind..."

"What?"

"I was about to apologise..." I admitted, sighing. "But if I hadn't done that, that boy would've drowned."

"I know." Rhea said, sitting on the bench next to me. Buwaro turned to me.

"Jamal, i-it's okay, I'm f-fine." He said, still shivering, but trying his best to sound steady. He even pulled down his bandana to give me a grin. Fur or not, razor sharp teeth or not, blood red eyes or not, that was probably the most genuine smile I'd ever seen anyone have. I was taken aback.

"You helped save him, that's what matters." There was something behind his eyes. "Besides, we're all okay. He's getting the help he needs, a-and he's gonna be okay, and..." He actually had to take a moment to look away.

"Buwaro..." Rhea started. Now it hit me. He couldn't have been gladder for someone to have been saved today...he's most likely still reeling from Sakido's death. To lose a sibling, someone that was cared for so deeply...

I patted Buwaro firmly on the back. "Yeah...you're right..." I looked down. Rhea simply got off the bench to take a look at Buwaro. But then she saw something out of the corner of her eye and quickly covered his face with the bandana again, hissing under her breath.

Kieri had come with two humans, one a grown, bearded man, and the other younger, probably close to my age. The former had a clipboard while the other simply looked us over. "Okay, okay..." The man pulled out a towel for Buwaro. "Here, you're gonna need it." He gives him a smile. Rhea wordlessly takes the towel. "We'll take it from here..."

The man then turned to me. "Hey, kid. Are you the one who called us over?"

"Yeah...?" I stood up, looking at the man in slight confusion; I was at this point certain it was showing on my face.

"Well, thank you so much for that." He shook my hand firmly. "We probably wouldn't have noticed anything was wrong until too late. Parents really need to learn to watch their kids, sheesh..."

"Y-yeah." The boy beside him nodded. Was this the man's son? "We owe you one for that."

Huh. This was definitely new. Not the kind of thing I was expecting when I called attention to the boys for the group. I had, admittedly, intended it to go without a hitch: get help early, get out with all of us okay, and continue searching the city for Kazai, Sanjulo, and Arin. But...

"Well, can you sign this for us, please?" The man raised a clipboard to me, with a list of names and signatures. I spotted the smiling green badge on his jacket, and memories flooded in.

"Yeah, uh, Trouble Centre, right?" I said, taking the clipboard and pulling out the pencil slipped inside the clip.

"Yeah, I think this one's gonna end the day..."

I was about to write down my name when I remembered that I wasn't supposed to let anything slip. So I awkwardly handed the clipboard and pencil to the closest available person to me: Kieri. I was lucky she had been paying attention. She tentatively took the clipboard and pencil, while giving the two Humans a nervous smile.

"Why...?"

"He...he has amnesia..." She explained. "He d-doesn't remember his full name."

"Oh...um..."

Guess the situation was pretty awkward now. None of us knew what to say. But then we were interrupted by Buwaro coughing. Rhea hauled him to the side, keeping his back to us. "We have to get him back home."

"His clothes are still wet." The young man said. "Why can't you just remove them and dry him here? W-we have towels!"

I quickly stepped in. I'd mulled over a cover story throughout the journey; I had plenty of time to consider factors. "No." I told him firmly. "He's got a, skin condition; he's very sensitive to sunlight." All you could see of Buwaro through the disguise was his red eyes and a lock of white hair; it wouldn't be difficult to pass him off as an albino, even with Kieri present. "It'll be safer for us to get him home and help him there, we don't live far, don't worry."

"Maybe, but we have to hurry." Rhea urged. "Come on, Buwaro, let's go..." She grabbed Buwaro's hand and helped him off the bench.

"B-but we haven't found S-snowy's brother y-yet!" He objected, weakly tugging against Rhea's grip on his hand.

I turned to Kieri. "Think you can keep searching while we take him home?" I asked her.

She nodded tentatively. "Y-yes. You go on and help Buwaro." She sounded determined. Good, this is the kind of determination she needs.

"We can help!" Said the young man quickly.

"Cameron-" His father spoke up, but he was cut off.

"Listen, this shouldn't be too hard to pull off, dad." Cameron insisted.

"Son, I was gonna say that was a great idea."

"O-oh, sorry dad."

"It's okay."

Kieri sighed and looked at the two. And my fucking God, this felt so fucking awkward with what I knew. "Um...what do you think?" I asked her. "Think they could help?"

"Yes, well-" She blurted out before straightening up. "Y-yes. Th-that would be good."

"Great!" "Alright." Cameron and I said at the same time. I turned to Buwaro and Rhea. "Okay, guys, let's hurry home, we've got things taken care of." I gestured for them and walked down the bridge back in the direction we came from, the two of them following.

The last thing I heard before Kieri, Cameron, and his dad were out of earshot was; "Let's get down to business. What do you need?"

* * *

 **A/N: This is what happens when things are tampered with. What may initially seem like an easy fix could be either that, another problem in exchange, or even something far, far worse. Let's be thankful the latter didn't happen, and just watch as the trio turned quartet continue their journey, secretly pulled my more than one set of strings.**

 **Ronmr: This is ultimately a matter of choice, but it's pretty likely. Angelic could do him good in the future. I say future because it's not exactly easy to learn a language.**

 **Guest: Sounds like an interesting take. However, I do not know enough about Undertale—or enough to balance things out in ways people would enjoy—to be able to make such a story.**

 **You can call me Randy: Thank you so much for the compliment, Randy. I'll continue this story best I can. I hope you have a nice day, and succeed with your own projects.**


	12. Chapter XII

**A/N: Hello and welcome to the long overdue chapter 12. I apologise for the somewhat shorter chapter, let's just get right into it.**

* * *

 _My POV_

It took us almost fifteen minutes of half-running half-stumbling to make it back to the inn where we were staying, and by that time, Buwaro was a shivering mess of wet cloth. We stepped inside into the much warmer lobby, and the front desk guy was there to greet us.

"Whoa, what happened?" They asked.

"He fell into the Zolle River," Rhea explained quickly. "We just need to get him to the bath."

"No more water, please..." Buwaro whined.

"It'll be hot water this time, it should help."

The front desk guy was confused. "But why wouldn't you-?"

I just gave them a shrug. "Let's go..." I started leading Buwaro out of the lobby, Rhea following close behind. Now, where the hell were the bathrooms in this place...?

It took about five painfully slow minutes to finally locate the baths. We stepped inside to look at the place. It looked...surprisingly nice for something that wasn't 21st century. Far nicer than what I saw at Farun, at least. And I need to stop comparing this place to Farun, jeez. It's like comparing that little town I compared Farun to, to a major city that I'm reminded of by Riverside Ci- wait.

Rhea led Buwaro over to a stall, where there was a tub. There was a system of pulleys and levers right next to it. Is that how they poured in the water? "Okay," She started. "If I remember correctly, it was this rope over here?" She pulled on one of the ropes attached to the pulleys, and water flowed briefly into the tub. Briefly, because she had barely tugged it; the water flowed for only a second. She placed a paw on the water. "Yeah, that's it! That's the hot water!"

Boy, this is interesting.

I pulled on the rope again, holding it there; this time, the water flowed steadily into the tub. Buwaro watched it wearily; at least until it started to steam, then it got his attention in a more positive manner. He was still shivering, however.

"Okay, Buwaro, time to get ya off those clothes..." Rhea grunted, tugging on his sleeve. He complied, taking off his hat, his boots, both of his coats, and whatever was left of his shirt, dumping them all on a bench at the wall of the stall. He rubbed his arms, shivering more, his fur matted.

"A-anything else?" He asked.

"The rest of it..." I said, shrugging. "Just wait until I'm done filling this."

"Wh-what are we even g-gonna use i-it for?"

"You're freezing cold, Buwaro. We have to warm you up." Rhea said. "Trust me, it'll feel great once you get in."

I finally finished filling the tub. "All set. Now I'm just gonna wait outside." I stepped out of the stall without another word. I did not want to stick around and see things, despite my very morbid curiosity-

I smacked myself.

Kind of.

...

 _Lightly._

"Come on, Buwaro, just get in!"

"I-I d-d-don't want t-to!"

"Get in!"

"N-no water!"

"GET IN THE FUCKING TUB!"

There was a yelp, followed by a splash. Did Rhea just shove Buwaro in?

"Rhea?" I called out, at the stall.

"Yeah, yeah, I got 'im in." She grumbled. "He's enjoying it NOW."

I couldn't hear Buwaro at all; I think he's just silent, in the water. Just the fact that he's not complaining about it is good.

I thought back to what I knew about Demons. Apparently, Fire Demons hated water, a lot; Buwaro is no exception, I remember that he hated rain, from that one page. But the fact that he wasn't complaining about being about as submerged in water as he was before, minus all his clothes, means that he doesn't actually mind it at all. Which is great.

Rhea stepped out of the stall, dusting her hands. She had gotten a bit wet from the splash, but not much. "Okay, that's done..." She poked her head back in. "Let him warm up and then we'll just send him to bed to rest."

I almost dared poke my head in the stall, but I instead just looked at the door, and called out. "How are you faring in there, Buwaro?"

"G-good!" He called back. "It... it feels nice..."

"Okay, that's good..." I sighed. I sat down on one of the benches set up outside the stalls. "So...I guess we just wait here?" I asked Rhea.

"Do we?" She shot back.

"Well, we're gonna keep Buwaro company, aren't we?" I shot back; that might've come out with a bit too much bite.

"Yeah..." She sat down next to me, sighing.

"Are y-you okay, Rhea?" Buwaro called out from the stall.

"Yes, I'm fine." She replied, firmly.

"...h-how long until S-Snowy comes back?"

"Not sure, Buwaro." I stated. "But maybe by nightfall." I looked out the door of the baths. Strangely, the place was very quiet; Buwaro, Rhea, and I were the only people present, actually, surprisingly. Then I spoke something on my mind, something surprisingly genuine.

"I wonder how much luck she's having with the search..."

* * *

 _Cameron's POV_

I looked up at the sky, bathed in golden yellow and ochre red hues as the sun slowly set in the east, to my left. Dad and I had spent the last few hours searching, for a group of three people. We searched a good portion of Riverside City for these people. We had found no leads then. But we still had time, we could keep searching.

We were searching on behalf of a beautiful young lady, who went by the name of Kieri Suizahn. She had long, sea blue hair, milky white skin, and shining blue eyes. She was an Angel, in every sense of the word, even the literal one. She was an Angel who had been stranded on Medius for reasons even she didn't know, and she was in search for her brother and his friends. As a Trouble Centre helper, there was no way I would've not offered to help.

She was grateful, but her spirits were still somewhat low, it seemed. She had been searching for quite a while, and her other friends had to leave after one of them fell into the Zolle River. He was fine, but he had to be taken away. Now, Kieri was by herself, with Dad and I left to help.

I turned to her, to see that she too was looking towards the sunset. "Looks pretty, right?"

"Yes..." She said, nodding and turning to me. "Medius has its own kind of beauty."

"Let's not waste too much time." Dad cut in. "We don't have all day to just sit around."

Kieri nodded again. "W-we should hurry."

I couldn't help but agree. I need to stop myself from getting distracted.

And so, we continued, stepping into the next district in the area. It was one of the more densely populated places in Riverside City, featuring many higher class homes, many parks and hills, and the like. Definitely the kind of place a desperate traveller would've come to get the necessary equipment for the trip.

Judging by Kieri's description of her brother and his friends, it shouldn't be too hard to find at least one person that has seen them. Whether or not one could blend into the crowd, two Angels dressed in bright clothing would stick out like a sore thumb.

We would only know if they tried talking to anyone, however, so our search isn't any easier. Especially since Kieri let drop that neither of the Angels actually knew how to talk in Lingo, and that the Human could barely speak the Angelic language.

"We should be able to find someone in the supermarket." Dad suggested. "Cashiers must've seen something."

The three of us stepped into the store, looking around.

"Could be any of them. Let's split up." I said, and the three of us went to ask different people. I got a young Jakkai lady who had just finished with a customer; It was late, the usual evening rush was already starting to end. The lady was dressed in a uniform, and her tag read "Ciera".

"Excuse me, miss?" I asked

"Hm?" She looked up. She had bright green eyes.

"I wanted to ask if you've seen a few certain people around here."

"I see lots of people every day, kid. I'm not sure I'll be able to know who you're talking about." She said tiredly.

"Help me out here, please." I pleaded. "It's a group of three teenage guys, two of which wore bright clothing and had white hair?"

She stopped, looking surprised. "Are...are you serious?"

I just gestured to Kieri, who was nearby. "Oh..." Ciera sat back down and thought for a moment. "Well...I think I saw people like that not too long ago. It was yesterday morning, maybe even today."

"Really?" So they HAD been here! "Did they say anything about where they were going?"

"S-s-slow d-down, kid!" Ciera stuttered "They said n-nothing, but they got enough food for a long trip. Could be to St Curtis, most likely."

"Thank you for your time." I walked back to the entrance, where Dad was waiting. Kieri was still asking some of the other cashiers, so he called her over.

"Did you find something?" She asked, a small slip of an accent at that last word.

"Yeah." I told her. "One of the cashiers said she saw them sometime yesterday or today."

Kier's eyes lit up. I smiled proudly. "Okay, boy," Dad said. "We made a step forward, now what? Where else can we search?"

"There's gotta be a few more stores around here..." I started walking away, gesturing for Dad and Kieri to follow. I was gonna get this girl to her friends, and I'm not dropping this search after one lead. I ran around, looking at store after store, trying to see which they would pick. We eventually got to one that sold hunting equipment; this kind of stuff would've been ideal for the trio.

I stepped in, to be greeted by a fairly tall human with long brown hair and glasses, dressed in heavy clothes. "Good evening. How may I help you...?" He seemed to trail off when he noticed Kieri. Hmm...best be careful here.

"Yes." Dad spoke for me this time, damn it. "We were looking for Ms Susan's brother, and his friends." He gestured to Kieri, who looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Well..." The man thought for a moment, then spoke. "Yes, I did, actually." He said. I felt my chest warm up at the sight of Kieri's hopeful expression at that moment. "They showed up yesterday afternoon, actually. The two that looked like her didn't even speak Lingo, but they kept asking stuff of me like I expected to know the language." He shrugged. "At least they had someone that was _trying_ to keep everything in check. In the end, they came out of it with an adequate amount of equipment. And I'm not gonna forget that incident any time soon."

"Thank you for your time, Mr..."

"Ollie."

"Wait!" I cut in. "Do you have any idea where they're headed?"

He raised an eyebrow and thought for a moment. "...The kid said they were headed east to St Curtis...or Weyville, one of the two. He wasn't very sure himself. Apparently they were going after someone."

"Okay, thanks." I nodded to him, and the three of us exited the shop. Kieri was beaming, pretty much. I was more than happy. "We did it!" I said. "They're here!"

"Well, we know where they're going, at least." Dad said.

"Thank you both so much!" Kieri said happily. She turned and grabbed her purse, starting to pull out some coins. "H-how much?"

I shook my head. "Don't worry about that. You shouldn't have to pay; we're just doing you a favour!"

"Oh, please..." Dad cut in. "It's our job. And all you have to do is sign again for us to get payment, but tips are appreciated." He held out his clipboard for Kieri to take.

"Dad, she doesn't have to pay, she's an Angel!" I admonished without thinking. Kieri's face fell slightly, and she turned away while signing the clipboard. Crap, did I do a bad?

"Then let 'er decide on what she wants to do." He replied, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Easy, girl." She looked up nervously, holding the clipboard close to her chest, before quickly handing it back. "Th-there, I signed." She was still holding her purse.

"S-sorry..."

She glanced at me when I said that. "I-it's okay, Cameron..." She smiled very slightly, before simply pulling out a few coins and holding them out to me. "Still...I have to thank you for your help."

It took me a moment to process that, but then I took the coins from her small hand. "It's no big deal, Kieri..." Her smile only grew. "I have to go, tell my friends the news..." She said, before stepping back, waving, and sprinting back the way we came.

Wow...I think I'm in love.

"Cameron, don't stare like that."

* * *

 _My POV_

"Tres tristes tigres tragaban trigo en un trigal en tres tristes trastos..."

The sun had already set, and dinner had already been eaten. But Kieri kept taking her time, and there was nothing to do. Rhea and Buwaro recounted their tales and misadventures in Hell, but eventually it got too loud for me to stay.

So now here I was, walking through the cold streets of Riverside, muttering Spanish tongue twisters to myself to keep in practice.

This side of Riverside wasn't all that interesting. There were a few small shops here and there, but mostly houses and a small amount of random people, Humans and Jakkai alike were walking around, ready to end off their day.

"Pepe Pecas pica papas con un pico, con un pico pica papas Pepe Pecas…"

And there go literally the only two Spanish tongue twisters I know. I need to find something else to entertain myself with. I looked at the buildings in the street.

Groceries? No. Bakery? No. Clothes? No. Library-? Ooh, a library.

I stepped inside, taking a deep breath from the warm inside air of the library. It was fairly big, had a decent amount of books. Pretty interesting all around. I mean, I know I still have that alchemist book at home, but I haven't really gotten a chance to read it...or an excuse to, for that matter. No alchemy materials or equipment.

The library, unsurprisingly, was mostly empty, with many people having gone home, and the only ones left aside from me were a Jakkai or two and the Human librarian, writing stuff down at her desk. I had gotten too used to computers to realise that last bit straight away.

In libraries, I don't typically go over every single book; I don't usually recognise any save for a certain few which either have famous authors, or famous stories. Here, everything was unfamiliar, not to mention there were Jakkai authors and what I could only assume were Khamega authors; the names were just really weird. There were comic books, children's books, full-length novels, and educational books, and so on.

It wasn't until I decided to leave that things took a turn.

"Excuse me." The librarian called out to me right as I was about to step out. I turned around and looked down at her. She was a little small and young, but still clearly older than me, maybe 20 or so. Her skin seemed to be a somewhat darker tone than the others, but that's about it; I was never good at being able to tell one's ethnicity accurately. What surprised me was the accent. It was faint, like mire, but it was there.

I walked over to her. "What is it?" I asked. She seemed to look me up and down.

"I don't know... something about you..." She narrowed her eyes. Yeah, now I was sure there was an accent.

"Well, is there anything you'd like to ask me?" I replied, experimentally deepening my accent a little, just enough for it to be noticeable.

She nodded and tapped the table. "Yes." She started, pulling out a sheet of paper. "Sir, you have an overdue copy of _The Eyes of Salazar_ that you need to return immediately."

What?

"What are you talking about? I-I never...took a book from this library?" I was very confused. Was this a library or a bookstore? And why was she asking me about this book when I never set foot in this library?

"Yes you have, sir. I recognise your voice." She continued. "It's three days overdue, I have it listed right here!" She pointed to a sheet of paper I couldn't see from the angle I was at.

Normally, I'd've asked for her to show me the list, but I had already been taken off-guard and it didn't occur to me. "I swear, I h-haven't- Look, Miss, this has got to be a mistake." I tried keeping calm best I could.

"Well, I can assure you," She replied. "I know what I'm doing."

Right as she said that, the doors opened and closed, as the two Jakkai left the library. She sighed, then reached for another sheet of paper. "I also have another question."

"Okay..." I sighed begrudgingly. I may as well just listen to what she has to say.

She put a sheet of paper in front of me. "Do you recognise these symbols?"

I looked down and my eyes widened.

In the sheet in front of me were a series of symbols, and yes, I immediately recognised them. The Yin and Yang, the Star of David, the Swastika, the Hammer and Sickle, and most prominently, both because it was the most detailed and it was centred AND it really wasn't like the rest: the Superman logo.

I looked up at her, then back at the symbols, then back at her again.

"I'll take that as a yes, then."

"Y-you too?" I let slip.

She seemed to freeze, but then nodded. "Yeah...can't believe I actually found someone."

No fucking way, she's from Earth too. First Arin, now her?!

"I-I..I don't believe it-"

"Calm down. No one's here, we can talk." She got up from her desk and led me over to one of the tables. "You can start by telling me how you got here."

It wasn't much to say; I was teleported into a graveyard 5 days prior, in the presence of two Demons and a Jakkai who had been resurrected. Then I told her the good few misadventures I had before making it here, deciding to leave out the part where one of the Demons died, the other came with us, and the fact Lazuli and Talus existed and also died.

"I see..." The woman said. "Well...there're similarities between your story and mine."

"What do you mean?" I asked her curiously.

She took a deep breath and started.

"I arrived on Medius on August 22nd, 2016, going by Earth years." She said. "I woke up, my mind was very hazy, found myself in one of the cemeteries just outside the city. Lucky, because not 20 metres away there were a trio of Demons beating some guy up." She shuddered. "Took all my willpower to hide and pray they didn't spot me. Big, animalistic beasts...

"Eventually, they left, and I went to check on the guy. He was actually still alive and even though he was hurt, he wasn't m-mutilated or anything, so I ended up helping him home. I didn't understand what had happened at the time, and things only got weirder as time went on. He rambled about having been in Hell for trafficking, I entered the city to find there was nothing modern about it, everyone was speaking English, and there were little fluffy critters called Jakkai running around! It wasn't easy when I could barely trust the person explaining everything to me."

"Yeah, he wasn't lying about the Hell part." I deadpanned.

"I figured." She huffed in response. "I ended up having a freak-out and being detained for a good few days. It wasn't _un_ pleasant, it gave me time to clear my head. Having a Jakkai as a guard certainly helped...I eventually made friends with him."

"That's nice."

"Yes, but then they let me out, and things didn't go so well at first. I was broke and had no idea how the currency worked. I was a completely unregistered person, dressed in unfamiliar clothes. And to top it off, I couldn't even speak English very well. So after wandering around for a day and a half with nowhere to stay, I realised I didn't have much choice but to go talk to the guy I met.

"Finding him wasn't hard. He told me his name was Walter Henderson, and even told of a little brother called Joshua. I looked up both names in the town registry – because obviously there were no phone books lying around – and found an address. The family deeply missed Walter; they didn't know that he had died, nor did they seem to know that he was a criminal. He spoke good word of me to them, and his family ended up helping me."

"That's...I would say convenient, but that's kind of insensitive-"

"No, it's fine. It was pretty lucky." She reassured me. "Still, it wasn't much. They let me stay at their home while I joined the Trouble Centre and did odd jobs helping people...wait, do you even know what the Trouble Centre is?"

"I heard about it on the way here—actually, had to deal with them after a little accident we had here." I said casually. I guess I visibly reacted when she mentioned the Trouble Centre. I also really didn't know if telling her about Slightly Damned as a webcomic was the best idea, so I just left it aside for now, and gestured at her to continue. "Go on."

"Yes..." She nodded and resumed. "Eventually, I got a part time job as a guard with the Jakkai I met; his name is Robert, very nice man." She smiled lightly. "Until I finally became a librarian here. I've spent my time up til now reading up on this world. Did you know that magic is real here?"

"Yes." I raised my hand and demonstrated, forming a small amount of water on my hand. "The Angel I travelled with taught me how to get a grip, but I'm not gonna be learning anything fancy any time soon." I closed my fist, then just turned around and wiped my wet hand on my pants.

"Then I'll help you." The lady got up and walked over to a random shelf. "There's some instruction books over here that can get you started."

I got up and followed her. "Th-thanks, but you still haven't told me how you knew you weren't the only person from Earth here!"

She pulled herself over to the shelf. "I didn't until a month ago!" She replied. "Not until Robert mentioned another human had appeared randomly and got taken in by the local blacksmith before he just...went to the mountains for some reason."

"Wait, I think I know who you're talking about." I said in realisation. "Heard about the same guy. Average height, blonde, androgynous?"

"Yeah. Saw him a couple times, too. I didn't get to talk, however." She shrugged. "But those clothes, they were the most American thing you could imagine!"

I snorted. "Yeah, well, it turns out they're with the group we're tracking down, so, I dunno, I'll tell them what you think of that dress."

She chuckled. "Yeah, anyway, here're the books you'll need." She gestured at a good portion of the shelf, which was filled with books of varying size and breadth listing different elements of magic. "Basic things, nice little party tricks-"

"Combat." I said sharply, spotting the book I needed and pulling it out of the shelf. It was smaller, but thicker than my alchemy book, and it focused entirely on water magic. I started flipping through it while I heard the lady stutter.

"C-combat?" She asked, surprised.

"Yeah. From what I heard, something big is gonna happen soon, and I better be prepared for it." I said, looking up and closing the book. It was purely practice spells; I put it away and grabbed another water magic book, one with more info.

"What do you mean?"

"Lemme elaborate." I stated as I grabbed another book and flipped through it. "The Angel said that many other Angels were dragged down before her by random portals, in groups of three, at a semi-regular rate. She was dragged down around the same time that human appeared, and no doubt he appeared with other Demons at that time." I put away the book. Nothing _but_ combat, and it was almost too thick to hide.

"I think I see what you're getting at..."

"There's more." I grabbed another. "The damned soul I told you about—her name's Rhea—said that she'd see beams of light coming from deep within Hell at semi-regular intervals, and she was brought back into Medius by being thrown into that light. Something huge is at play here." I put away the other book. It was a children's book, and had zero new stuff that Kieri hadn't taught me already.

"And what part do we play in all of this?" She asked, sounding a little frustrated.

"We survive and try figuring out how to get back to Earth. There's no way it'll happen anytime _soon,_ but eventually we'll find a way...and everyone else that got dragged here." I said, before just taking the time to find a suitable book.

"Alright. I guess I'll be easy enough to find in this library." She sighed.

After much deliberation, I grabbed a smaller book. It had a short list of both regular spells, combat spells, and even some kind of magic meditation katas that could help me get a little sharper. I stepped over to her. "Anyway, it was nice to meet you...actually, amazing to meet you. Good to know we're not alone."

"Oui..." She nodded and gave me a quick hug. "I hope we see each other soon."

"Eventually. I'll be gone in a day or two...maybe." I said, looking aside. "...I just realised something. What's your name?"

"Isabelle. Yours?"

"Jamal."

"Nationality?"

"Chilean. It doesn't matter much here, though."

"Yeah, I guess me saying I'm French doesn't have much meaning."

I shrugged. "Yeah...well, hope to see you soon. My friends are gonna miss me." I turned to leave before I realised something. "Wait, I have to pay for this-"

"No, keep it." Isabelle replied. "Just put it to good use."

"I will, but are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"Okay, goodbye, Isabelle." I turned again and very awkwardly stepped out of the library, making my way back home, stuffing the book under my jacket.

* * *

 _Rhea's POV_

Night time came very fast. The sky was dark and cloudy and it was super cold outside. It was dark and so fucking boring...

It was late when Kieri Suizahn finally came home. Everyone had eaten dinner, Jamal was already back from his random walk, and Buwaro was already dried off and resting in bed. He had quite understandably gotten sick. Problem was, it'd slow us down in the long run. All in all, everyone was subdued.

So when Kieri practically hopped in with an excited smile on her face, I was very confused.

"Snowy, you're back!" Buwaro said in his usual tone, though his voice was a little raspy from coughing.

"Did you find anything?" Jamal asked.

Kieri nodded excitedly. "They've been around here!" She quickly sat on the bed next to Buwaro. "We asked around and found out that they've been shopping for supplies to continue the trip, and they're still heading east!"

"That's great!" Buwaro celebrated in typical Buwaro fashion, causing Thadius to fall off his bed with a loud thump. "Whoa-"

I hopped off the bed. "Yeah, we're close."

"From what we gathered, they were supply hunting yesterday, so they must've left either last night or sometime today-!"

"It also means we have to go supply hunting tomorrow." Jamal added in. "And hope that it's St Curtis they're headed to, because that's closest to Riverside."

"Okay, not hard." I said. "We need to restock, because that trip's gonna take a bit more than just two days this time around."

Buwaro coughed loudly, and both Kieri and Jamal at his side immediately. I hastily followed suit.

"Are you feeling okay, Buwaro?" Kieri asked, clearly worried.

"Y-yeah. Rhea says I'll be good to go soon."

"...We don't know how soon, though." Jamal admitted. "Hopefully in a day or so, but no guarantees."

Kieri straightened up. "Okay..."

"Don't w-worry!" Buwaro cut in, flashing a grin. "It doesn't matter how long it takes, we'll help you find your brother and friends. We'll reach them eventually."

"Buwaro..."

"It's late, okay?" I said, walking back to my bed. "We're still gonna be getting our things ready all day tomorrow, so we best sleep early and get up early." I walked behind my bed, out of view, and started undressing and putting on my sleepwear.

"Yeah, she has the right idea. It's best to get as much ready as soon as possible." I heard Jamal say as he stepped to his side of the room. I finished dressing and got into bed.

"Sleep well, everyone. You'll all need it."

Buwaro was asleep in a flash. Jamal joined in soon after in his own bed. The only one who was having trouble was Kieri, who was shooting glances at Buwaro even as she got into bed.

"Kieri, don't worry." I told her. "Buwaro is gonna be fine. He's taken a lot and still bounced back."

"..." Kieri looked up at me, then back at Buwaro.

"...if you're worried about him slowing us down-"

"No! No..." She quickly shook her head. "It's n-not that..."

"Then what?" I asked, my eyes narrowing.

"...i-it's nothing."

"Sure it's not. But it's getting late, so go ahead and think on what you have in mind." I buried my face in the pillow, and fell asleep shortly after. Kieri was silent 'til then.

* * *

 **A/N: Safe to say there's a lot more to be different with the world than previously thought. Also, I would like to know if I'm doing a good job at portraying these characters. Constructive criticism helps.**

 **Ronmr: Sometimes even the best laid plans can go wrong. And honestly, Jamal didn't have much of a plan at the time.**


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